Yahoo!Xtra Delivers Strong Financial Result

Yahoo!Xtra Delivers Strong Financial Result As Digital Media Grows

Yahoo!Xtra, the online joint venture between Yahoo!7 Pty Ltd and Telecom New Zealand Ltd, today announced a strong profit result with the release of its 2009 financial results.

The company has reported an after tax profit of $1.37 million despite 2009 being one of the most challenging years ever for business and the advertising industry.

“Our result reflects in part the growth in digital media over other media categories, which comprised 10% share of advertising spend in 2009” said Yahoo!Xtra General Manager, Laura Maxwell-Hansen.

“It also reflects our market leading advertising products and the strength of our dedicated local editorial and sales teams who are tapped into what New Zealanders want to do online.”

For the past two months, the Yahoo!Xtra homepage has been the number one New Zealand publisher homepage, a position the company also held in August and September in 2009.

“More Kiwis are choosing to begin their online journeys using our homepage than ever before,” said Maxwell-Hansen.

“Yahoo!Xtra has the most sophisticated display ad serving technology of any New Zealand online media company and our advertisers are responding to the success that our technology can deliver for their clients. We have strong growth in display advertising and we expect that to continue.”

In 2009, Yahoo!Xtra launched an online shopping site, a food channel and an enhanced movies channel. These have all proved popular with NZ unique users to the site growing by 29%* over the year. The company expects the products it has in the pipeline for 2010 to further support that audience growth.

Yahoo!Xtra Chairman, Rohan Lund, believes the strength of Yahoo!Xtra’s local team is key to its growing success.

“We attribute our success in 2009 in large part to the strength of our local team. Our sales teams are customising the best of our technology for local advertisers while our editorial team, who are living and working in New Zealand, know what New Zealanders want to read about online. It’s a great result and one we expect to build on further in 2010.”

About Yahoo!Xtra
Yahoo!Xtra’s vision is to be the centre of people’s online lives by offering Kiwis dynamic, relevant experiences on one of New Zealand’s favourite websites. Led by passionate Kiwis, Yahoo!Xtra is dedicated to producing and sourcing fresh local and global content, served up using innovative technologies and products.

About Yahoo!7
Yahoo!7 is one of the most comprehensive and engaging online destinations for Australian consumers and advertisers. Formed as a 50-50 joint venture between the Seven Media Group and Yahoo! Inc., Yahoo!7 brings together Yahoo!’s successful internet business and the television and magazine content of Seven, one of Australia's leading media companies. The company also combines the strengths of Yahoo!’s search and communications capabilities and its global internet network, with Seven's rich media and entertainment content and marketing capabilities.

About Telecom
The Telecom Group provides telecommunications and ICT services in New Zealand and Australia. It is the principal supplier of telecommunications services in New Zealand. Telecom provides services connected via fixed networks which use fibre optic, copper and wireless technologies. Telecom provides local, national and international telephone services and a range of other telecommunications and ICT services including leased circuits, Internet services, data communications, directories, e-commerce and mobile communications. In New Zealand, Telecom operates the major national telephone network, with more than 95 percent of inter-city trunk routes on fibre optic. Telecom is listed on the New Zealand, Australian and United States stock exchanges.
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