Audio books find new chapter in Lycos
The Web portal and the Audio Book Club form a marketing alliance to promote products to those who use the Lycos Network.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the alliance includes the integration of links, banners, buttons to co-branded versions of the Audio Book Club sites, including Booksaloud.com and Radiospirits.com. The integration link across Lycos's online properities, including Tripod, Angelfire, and WhoWhere.
"The Lycos Network of sites represents a tremendous target market for Audio Book Club that would be difficult to reach on our own," Audio Book Club co-CEO Michael Herrick said, adding that the alliance "marks a significant milestone in the company's Internet strategy."
Audio Book Club will offer Lycos users its library of audio books and video products.
"Audio Book Club will be a great complement to the other literary and entertainment offerings on Lycos sites and will add greater value to the affiliate marketing opportunities in our Web communities," said Jeff Bennett, Lycos vice president for e-commerce.
Last month, Lycos entered into an agreement with Hollywood veteran Barry Diller's USA Networks to form the USA/Lycos Interactive Network. Diller has repeatedly stressed the potential e-commerce opportunities that the merged companies would like to exploit.
The formation of USA/Lycos is still subject to the approval of the Lycos stockholders and customary regulatory approvals.