NetSuite Powers Business Transformation for Media Publishing Companies

SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, today announced that a growing number of media publishing companies have successfully transformed their business models and streamlined key business processes with NetSuite, the world's leading cloud-based ERP solution.

NetSuite has established itself as the clear thought leader in helping new media and traditional media publishers optimize processes to address changing market dynamics. The company's cloud software provides solutions that address the needs of 21st century media enterprises, including better management of the advertisement buying and renewal process, simplification of insertion order management, improvement of campaign ID management, and access to better business intelligence. For more information on NetSuite for Media Publishing, please visit www.netsuite.com/MediaPublishing

The profitability of media and publishing companies has been under fire unlike no other vertical market since the dawn of the Information Age. The rules of mass media, broadcasting, and niche publishing alike have been rewritten time and again by Web browsers, streaming video, personal media devices and social networking. Revenue and profitability models once considered timeless and unassailable have disintegrated, leaving many old-world media companies struggling for survival and new entrants grasping for sustainable sources of income. NetSuite has helped some of the leading companies in the new media transformation grow their businesses by encapsulating the newest and best strategies for the emerging new communication economy, giving them a clear, trusted, and reliable source for profitable business practices.

With NetSuite's cloud solution, media companies large and small can quickly and effectively manage their transition to the tools and techniques required for survival in the hyper-competitive market for information. Media companies can easily tailor NetSuite to streamline complex insertion order management, simplify invoicing and collection practices, provide superior ROI tracking on a campaign-by-campaign basis, and deliver accurate, real-time reporting on campaign status, impressions, and forecasts. Because NetSuite delivers all the advantages of the world's leading cloud ERP suite, companies can slash back-office overhead, reduce processing times, and cut IT expenditures.

"Media companies must grow and evolve at a fast pace that only the cloud can support," said Mini Peiris, VP of Product Marketing at NetSuite. "NetSuite gives media publishing enterprises the capabilities they need to survive and thrive in the most challenging environment since Gutenberg pressed his first page."

Media and publishing companies already enjoying success with NetSuite include:

Gawker Media (www.gawker.com), based in New York, NY, is one of the world's most successful and influential online media publishers with eight blogs attracting over 20 million readers every month. By adopting NetSuite OneWorld, Gawker Media has been able to streamline the end-to-end insertion order management process which is key for growing any media company. The result enables Gawker to create a competitive advantage by reducing the complexity of doing business with its strategic advertisers. In addition, Gawker has gained the flexibility to efficiently manage multiple revenue recognition schedules across complex multi-line item insertion orders, resulting from Gawker's success booking large scale brand name advertisers and campaigns. They've retired inefficient, risky and error-prone spreadsheet based revenue recognition that limited scaling the business. Finally, Gawker now has clear real time, monthly, quarterly and detailed visibility into sales that's necessary to drive and predict the business performance.

"We'd predicted 2009 would be a down year," says Scott Kidder, Gawker manager of finance and business development. "But we ended up with significant year-over-year growth. A good part of that success comes from our ability to refine our advertising sales processes through improved operations efficiency thanks to NetSuite."

Digg (www.digg.com), based in San Francisco, CA, operates the world's leading social news website, where users gather to discover, share, and curate online content. As Digg has grown and refined its sales model, it has become directly engaged with some of the world's largest advertising agencies. The logistical challenges and fast-paced, high-stakes demands of the advertising industry threatened Digg's growth and profitability. NetSuite gives Digg the enterprise architecture necessary to support its business model. Billing and customer processing times are down 75 percent and resulted in headcount savings. "NetSuite delivers ROI by enabling us to better react to our customers and work in real-time from anywhere," said Jim Heinzen, Digg's senior director of accounting. "Agencies don't care if you have delays because your systems aren't integrated. They want what they want, when they want it, and NetSuite enables us to respond in a timely fashion."

Torstar Digital (www.torstardigital.com) is the digital division of broad-based media conglomerate Torstar Corporation (TSX: TS-B). Its businesses include the Star Media Group led by the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper, and digital properties including thestar.com, toronto.com, LiveDeal.ca, Workopolis and Olive Canada Network; Metroland Media Group, publishers of community and daily newspapers in Ontario; and Harlequin Enterprises, a leading global publisher of women's fiction. "NetSuite gives us a single, unified environment so everyone involved in touching the customer has the same view — and for us, that's a very big advantage," said Jeff Sherman, VP of Finance and Operations, Torstar Digital. "Having a system that can grow with us is essential. Adding new businesses and models with NetSuite is simple."

Curbed Media (www.curbed.com) is a New York-based network of blogs providing neighborhood news in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. "As a startup, we wanted something that could scale and be a building block for all our business systems of the future, and NetSuite will provide us that," said Josh Albertson, General Manager of Curbed.com. "Also, it's great that NetSuite can be customized to deal with issues specific to our industry, such as online advertising inventory."

Other NetSuite for Media and Publishing adopters include Ziff Davis, The Onion, and C-Span Archives.

For more information about NetSuite please visit www.netsuite.com.

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are registered service marks of NetSuite Inc.

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SOURCE NetSuite Inc.