• Showcases EA as the charter sponsor, promoting new game “Need For Speed™ SHIFT”
• Features content from anchor partners IGN and GamePro

Palo Alto, CA – September 15, 2009 – Metacafe^®, the leading independent online video site, today debuts its new Video Games hub, which features trailers, reviews, news, interviews and walkthroughs for today’s top video game releases across all major gaming platforms.  Anchor content partners include IGN and GamePro, and the hub is sponsored at launch by EA’s Need for Speed™ SHIFT, which is in stores starting today.   

 “Online video is increasingly a primary source of entertainment for today’s consumers, so it’s important we showcase content in key entertainment categories – such as video games – about which people are passionate,” said Erick Hachenburg, CEO of Metacafe.  “We’ve developed our new hub to make it easy for viewers to find the freshest, most compelling game-related videos, which creates valuable opportunities for advertisers who want to reach them.”

 EA is the charter sponsor for the new Metacafe Video Games hub, promoting its new game Need for Speed SHIFT.  The campaign includes prominent exposure within the hub, an interactive home page skin, and a powerful combination of custom and standard media across the site, targeted to contextually relevant content.

 “Closely aligning with premium video game content and reaching our target consumers when and where they’re engrossed in the entertainment experience is central to our marketing strategy,” said Tabitha Hayes, Director of Marketing for EA.  “Teaming with Metacafe as the charter sponsor of its new Video Games hub is an effective and efficient way for us to build further awareness for Need for Speed SHIFT.”

 The new Video Games hub will be promoted across Metacafe, ensuring consumers can easily find the premium entertainment content they’re looking for and providing brand extension opportunities for hub sponsors.  Additional content and new content partners will be integrated into the hub in the coming weeks and months.

 This introduction comes on the heels of Metacafe unveiling its first four premium entertainment hubs – TV Clips, Movie Trailers, Music Videos and Sports Highlights – earlier this year and underscores the company’s leadership in advancing the evolution of the online video industry.

 About Need for Speed SHIFT

Need for Speed SHIFT is the first racing game that accurately reproduces the intense physical and emotional experience of being behind the wheel of a race car.  SHIFT’s true driver’s experience redefines the racing genre with the combination of real world physics and perception based G-forces including the brutal first person crash dynamic, to create a cockpit view that is easily the most realistic and intensive racing perspective ever.

About IGN

IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, Inc., is a leading Internet media and services provider focused on the videogame and entertainment enthusiast markets. IGN’s properties collectively attract more than 31 million unique monthly users worldwide. Our network of videogame-related properties (IGN.com, GameSpy, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, 3D Gamers, Direct2Drive and others) is the web’s number one videogame information destination and attracts one of the largest concentrated audiences of young males on the Internet.  More information is available at www.ign.com.

 About GamePro

GamePro Media is a network dedicated to publishing websites and magazines that meet the needs of today’s video game communities. Over 18 years old, GamePro Media is the largest integrated gaming media brand, now reaching over 15.6MM website visitors and 3.8MM magazine readers each month. GamePro Media offers a wide array of content that speaks to all segments of the market, including the traditional hardcore game enthusiast, as well as the ever-growing mainstream gaming audience. More information is available at www.gamepro.com.

About Metacafe^® – Entertainment That Connects
Metacafe^® is the leading independent online video site.  We connect consumers with the entertainment content they love and brand advertisers with the consumers they serve.  The company is teaming with content creators including top movie studios, music labels, professional sports leagues, television networks, video game publishers and best-of-the-web production firms to deliver an exceptional entertainment experience to its more than 50 million unique monthly viewers, more than 12 million of them in the U.S.[1].  The privately held company is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, and has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, London and Tel Aviv.  For more information – and millions of entertaining videos – visit www.metacafe.com.

Media Contact

Michelle Cox:  michelle@metacafe.com  / 415-823-7574

 

 

---

[1] comScore Media Metrix, July 2009