Innovative community tool connects pet enthusiasts across the DogTime Media vertical network of pet publisher sites
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, November 4, 2008–DogTime (http://dogtime.com), the largest vertical media network in the $43.5 billion* pet market, today announced the release of PetChat, an instant online chat application that connects pet enthusiasts and builds community interaction across multiple publisher sites.
PetChat is provided at no cost to DogTime Media’s vertical network of more than 180 publisher sites and will soon be available to the more than 130 members of the DogTime Blog Network, the market’s largest network of pet related bloggers. PetChat is the newest addition to a suite of tools and services that DogTime provides it’s network partners to help them grow their businesses.
“PetChat is truly a one-of-a-kind chat tool that engages the most devoted pet owners and adds significant value for our publishing partners,” said DogTime CEO Trevor Wright. “The combination of increased ad revenue, visit duration, and traffic makes PetChat a powerful addition to our suite of tools and services that are helping our publishing partners build their businesses.”
PetChat was developed in partnership with YapLoud (www.yaploud.com), an innovative instant chat application developed by a team coming out of Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley, Mountain View, CA.
“DogTime Media has taken the YapLoud technology to a new audience,” said Rahul Arora, CEO of YapLoud. “By integrating the PetChat tool across their vertical media network DogTime has empowered pet enthusiasts to interact with each other about the content they find deep within the mid and long-tail pet sites.”
PetChat features integrated ad units that provide publishers with ad revenue from the DogTime highly targeted best-of-breed advertisers that run across the DogTime Media Network, including Purina, Hill’s Science Diet, Frontline, Bissell, Eureka, Walmart, EaglePack and others. DogTime.com and its partner sites will also host a series of events within PetChat that will allow users to chat directly with some of the most renowned authorities in the pet industry.
About DogTime:
DogTime Media (http://dogtimemedia.com) is the country’s largest vertical media network focused exclusively on pets and pet enthusiasts. DogTime Media reaches 8.2 million** highly engaged consumers via its network of more than 180 leading pet-focused websites and over 130 pet bloggers, and is anchored by DogTime.com (http://dogtime.com), the premier destination for dog people. DogTime Media actively supports the efforts of rescue groups and shelters nationwide to significantly reduce the number of homeless and neglected pets in the country by providing authoritative advice to both novice and experience pet guardians. DogTime Media and DogTime.com are based in San Francisco, CA.
About YapLoud:
YapLoud (www.yaploud.com) builds and strengthens online communities by allowing for live interaction among visitors to any website. Imagine reading a news article then immediately connecting with all readers with a simple button click, on any web site. Those chatting on related articles can be bought into the chat.The community is focused to a dialogue by article or by website. You can therefore have a more dynamic environment where the community can be broadened or tightened to give the best experience to users We provide group chat to millions of users through our partner sites across the web. YapLoud is based in Santa Clara, CA.
* APPMA 2007/2008 National Pet Owners Survey
** Media Metrix 2.0, comScore Inc.
