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Business Wire

Leading direct response media buying firm Mercury Media has reached a long-term agreement with Teletrax(TM) to electronically track airings of its direct response television advertisements, it was announced today by the digital watermarking firm. A subsidiary of Medialink Worldwide Incorporated (Nasdaq: MDLK), Teletrax is headquartered in London, has offices in New York and Hollywood, and maintains its operations hub in Norwalk, Conn.

Founded in 1989 and based in Santa Monica, Calif., Mercury Media is a full-service media management company that specializes in providing media planning and buying services for both short form commercials, which typically run between 10 and 120 seconds in length, and long form paid programming, commonly known as infomercials. Its client list has included the direct response industry's most prestigious companies including Guthy-Renker Corporation, Time-Life and Modern Media. Under terms of the contract, Teletrax will monitor broadcast television and cable airings of Mercury Media advertisement placements in the top 100 TV markets and beyond as the Teletrax monitoring network expands.

The Teletrax service for the direct response industry was designed to provide unmatched speed and accuracy of broadcast airing information, yielding better control of client budgets and the ability to react to results more effectively.

"Our clients have long recognized Mercury Media for its innovation and strategic thinking, and with Teletrax, we will be able to deliver far greater ease of use, accuracy and precision in our reporting of business results," said Dan Danielson, co-chief executive officer Mercury Media and chairman of the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA). "Mercury Media's bookings over the course of its history have exceeded $1 billion in media buys, a volume which previously had been a challenge to track, but now can be managed more quickly and effectively for our clients with Teletrax's comprehensive monitoring services."

"Mercury Media made its initial mark as an infomercial trailblazer, but rapidly achieved success as a powerhouse in short-form media," commented Steve Nober, president and chief operating officer of Mercury Media. "National campaigns involving both genres require the same level of rigorous reporting, which Teletrax masterfully delivers in the most user-friendly fashion. We have been very impressed with the comprehensiveness and accuracy of Teletrax and the extraordinary client service we have received." A direct marketing veteran, Nober also serves on the ERA's Technology Council.

"Teletrax is excited to enter the direct response marketplace with an industry leader such as Mercury Media," stated Andy Nobbs, managing director of Teletrax. "Our move into monitoring TV paid programming and commercials is a natural evolution from our earlier success with tracking airings of show promotions for major entertainment and media companies. It is our expectation that other advertising and media organizations will follow Mercury Media's lead in adopting Teletrax as their digital video monitoring and media asset management service for tracking contractual compliance, talent payments and residuals. Teletrax offers an unparalleled opportunity for clients to substantially improve their resource management and thus improve their return-on-investment."

Launched in 2002 as a service developed by a joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG) and Medialink, with an underlying technology that is patent protected both by Philips and Digimarc Corp. (Nasdaq: DMRC), Teletrax's technology embeds an imperceptible and indelible digital watermark into video whenever it is edited, transmitted, broadcast or duplicated.

A global network of decoders or "detectors," captures all occurrences of the embedded video being transmitted via satellite, cable or terrestrially and generates tracking reports for the content owners. Reports of individual broadcast airings are delivered online in near real-time to each client's custom-designed portal or in data file transfers. Each client's broadcast activity is updated dynamically, 24 hours a day, enabling clients to respond immediately to reported results such as changes in end-user preferences or detections of unauthorized use.

Teletrax currently maintains a proprietary network of detectors that monitor the television broadcasts of 1,000 channels worldwide. Its U.S. footprint includes more than 800 television stations and cable channels in more than the top 100 markets in the United States, representing more than 85% of all U.S. television households. Its international network monitors nearly 200 channels being broadcast from 50 nations and is comprised of 12 monitoring stations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South and Central America, and Canada.

About Mercury Media:

Founded in 1989 and owned and operated by John Cabrinha and Dan Danielson, and based in Santa Monica, CA, Mercury Media is the largest direct response long and short form media buying agency in the country. In addition to their work with the leading direct response companies and products, Mercury Media has also paired with a wide variety of Fortune 1000 companies for their initial foray into direct response, serving as a guide throughout the entire process.

About Teletrax:

Teletrax (www.teletrax.tv) is the world's first global video broadcast monitoring and video asset management service. Launched in 2002, Teletrax provides clients with video watermarking services that enable them to precisely track and monitor where, when and how their content is being aired via cable, satellite and terrestrially. Clients can easily evaluate, respond to and manage broadcast information relating to their video content through Teletrax's Web-based reporting tools. Teletrax yields critical media intelligence that is of proven value to motion picture studios, news organizations, network and syndicated TV programmers, TV sports producers and distributors, brand marketers, corporate communicators, and advertising and public relations agencies. Headquartered in London, Teletrax has offices in New York and Hollywood, and maintains its operations hub in Norwalk, Conn.

About Medialink:

Medialink (www.medialink.com) is a global leader in providing unique news and marketing media strategies and solutions that enable corporations and organizations to inform and educate their target audiences with maximum impact on television, radio, print, and the Internet. The Company offers creative services and multimedia distribution programs including video and audio news and short-form programming, press release newswire distribution, and photography production and digital distribution. Through its subsidiary, Teletrax(TM), Medialink also provides global television tracking and media asset management services to help clients determine return on investment from their programming and advertising efforts. Based in New York, Medialink has offices in major cities throughout the United States and an international hub in London.

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