Source Interlink/ACNielsen New US Publishing Service

Source Interlink, the leading provider of magazine information and sales data in North America, has entered into an exclusive five year marketing agreement with ACNielsen. Under the terms of the agreement, ACNielsen will provide Source Interlink with weekly, scan-based magazine sales data from more than 200 of the nation's major retail chains representing over 25,000 stores.

This critical data will be marketed and licensed to publishers throughout the United States exclusively by Source Interlink under the name "ICN Mag*Track, A Service of Source Interlink Companies and ACNielsen."

Source Interlink, through ICN, its proprietary magazine information network, currently tracks detailed, store-level, point of sale information for magazines in 4,000 stores for the nation's largest publishers and distributors. Source provides additional circulation information in more than 80,000 stores for its subscribers.

With the addition of the data gathered from ACNielsen's 25,000-store universe, Source Interlink will be able to offer a product that combines the detail of point of sale information with a critical mass of stores. Source Interlink and ACNielsen believe the availability of these services and their resulting applications will enable publishers to distribute and sell magazines more efficiently, ultimately improving their sales and margins.

According to S. Leslie Flegel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Source Interlink Companies, "Partnering with ACNielsen is one of the most significant developments in the evolution of Source Interlink's strategy. Our existing publishing customers value Source's ability to deliver critical sales and marketing data that makes the editorial and advertising sales components of their businesses more efficient and profitable. With the introduction of ICN Mag*Track, Source Interlink arms publishers with new and powerful tools designed to monitor and analyse distribution and sales at the store level. This means that participating publishers in the ICN Mag*Track programme can work with their distributors to improve magazine sell-through at retail and reduce costly returns. In addition, ICN Mag*Track enables publishers to analyse and react to competitive sales information in a way that was not before possible."

Flegel also noted that Source Interlink, through its wholly owned subsidiary, IPD, is the leading direct distributor of magazines in North America. "Gaining access to this additional sales data will enable IPD to improve margins and attract customers. We are already receiving substantial interest from many major retailers about IPD's unique distribution system. The combination of the nationwide IPD direct-to-store distribution system along with the potent analytical tools of ICN Mag*Track positions our Company well for the future in our rapidly changing industry. IPD can deliver the right number of copies of magazines to the right locations on a timely basis to a broad range of retailers. The benefits to publishers and retailers alike are significant."

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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