FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Judie Mulligan, mulligaj@fleishman.com
Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations, 415.356.1086
PLANS UNDERWAY FOR 1999 WEBBY AWARDS AS PRODUCERS
REPORT 2 MILLION+ HITS FOR OFFICIAL SITE
Third Annual Awards Slated for March 1999
San Francisco (April 8, 1998) – With plans already underway for the 1999 Webby
Awards, organizers today revealed that this year’s official Webbies site
(www.webbyawards.com) registered more than 2 million hits over nine days
after the star-studded San Francisco ceremony.
In addition to the more than 2,000 digerati who descended on San
Francisco’s elegant Palace of Fine Arts for the Webby Awards show,
thousands of fans also attended the Webbies without actually being there.
According to Webby Awards producer and creative director Tiffany Shlain,
more than 4,000 people participated in the first-ever 3-D Webcast of the
March 6 awards on the Internet – an impressive figure for an online
broadcast.
“Now that the Web has become a part of everyday life, the Webbies truly
have wide appeal,” Shlain said. “People were actually rooting for their
favorite sites, the way they do for their favorite movies or performers.
This year’s show was as grand as the winners, and we can’t wait to do it
again.”
Even more exciting, Shlain said, a record number of fans voted for the
Webbies’ People’s Voice Awards in the weeks before the ceremony. From
January 30-February 5, the final week of voting, the official Webbies site
averaged more than 313,000 hits per day, with a peak of nearly 600,000 hits
on January 31. In all, over 100,000 unique individuals registered to vote,
up from 40,000 in 1997.
The glamorous ceremony hosted by acclaimed techie-turned-comedian Chris
McGuire also generated international press coverage from outlets including
CNBC, ABCNews.com, Bloomberg, C|Net, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, and
The Washington Post.
About The Webby Awards®
The Webby Awards honor the best creative and innovative Web sites of the year-and
the talented editorial, technical, and design teams behind them. The Webbies
are the biggest night of the year for the online world. Sponsors of the
1998 Webby Awards included Absolut Vodka, Alice 97.3 FM, LinkExchange,
PC World, Chromatek, Rocket Lab LLC, San Francisco Chronicle, The Internet
Industry Standard, Princeton Graphic Systems, Odwalla, Peet’s Coffee &
Tea, Gateway Limousine, and Hotel Triton. The Webcast, sponsored by Netopia,
Rent-A-Computer, RealNetworks, and Abovenet was produced by The Who and
How Entertainment Network.