Snowball Launches Subscription Services

Posted on July 12, 2001

Snowball, an online network for young adults founded in 1999, announced that it has recently launched paid subscription services to complement the existing free content on two of its online networks. The company is looking for sources of additional revenue following layoffs of 33% of its staff in April, 2001. The company was also notified in April of a potential delisting from the Nasdaq.

``The new premium offerings enhance our users' experience while providing Snowball with an additional revenue stream to complement our main business of online advertising and integrated marketing programs,'' said Snowball's President, Rick Boyce. ``We are pleased with the initial response to these offerings, as it confirms that we are providing content and many new services that our users value.''

IGN.com, Snowball's online network for gamers, has launched IGNinsider, a members-only clubhouse channel. For an annual subscription fee of $19.95, members receive access to exclusive content and services. Initially, the premium features include IGN Unplugged, a monthly PDF magazine that can be downloaded; exclusive daily content; exclusive downloads of games, movies and other video specials; and enhanced message board functions.

HighSchoolAlumni.com is the second Snowball network to launch a premium subscription service. HighSchoolAlumni is a high school reconnection website with a database of over 33,000 schools and 5 million registered users. Free registration to the site enables users to create a profile that can be viewed by the their former classmates, view their class lists, find out when friends register with Alumni Watch, and read message board postings. A new $14.95 annual AlumniAccess subscription gives users access to several premium features. The initial benefits of AlumniAccess membership include the ability to: Upload ``then'' and ``now'' photos of themselves; contact fellow alumni; and post messages to the HighSchoolAlumni message boards.