February 22, 2002

Star Tribune Selects Simile Media Server To Increase Revenue From Content

Leading Twin Cities newspaper uses enterprise media solution to intelligently connect content to related stories, products and services

NEW YORK, February 22, 2002 – Star Tribune, the largest newspaper of The McClatchy Company, has selected Simile Media Server for its Web site, startribune.com, the leading local news and information Web site serving Minneapolis/St. Paul. Simile Media Server will be used generate more revenue from online operations by automatically and contextually connecting articles to related content, products and services.

“The Simile solution will allow us to more fully leverage our content,” said Robert Schafer, Director of Business Development for startribune.com. “We’ll be able to generate new revenue streams from our content, especially with the potential for contextually marketing our archives and products from e-commerce partners. Additionally, Simile’s application will increase editor productivity, as it automates what has been a manual process of editors linking our articles to related content.”

Schafer said the first deployment of the Simile application was in the Books area of startribune.com (http://www.startribune.com/books), where book reviews and articles about books and writers are automatically linked to related products at BarnesandNoble.com. The application will be rolled out in additional areas of startribune.com in the coming weeks.

“Media companies realize their content is underutilized as a springboard to activity and revenue,” said Doug Burke, President and CEO of Simile Software. “By making relevant connections, the Simile Media Server will allow the Star Tribune to better utilize its content assets to cross-sell and up-sell information, products and services across Web properties and business partners.”

Simile Software, the emerging leader in unstructured content management technology, helps media companies increase revenue generation from content by providing intelligence to existing content management systems.

Using patent-pending technology, Simile Media Server processes any type of unstructured content and identifies the core contextual themes and ideas within the text. It then can automatically organize it, categorize it, tag it or link it to other related content and deliver it based on stated preferences, learned behavior or established business rules. The Simile Media Server was seamlessly integrated into the Star Tribune’s existing content management and database management systems with minimal modification to its existing technology infrastructure.

Simile Media Server generates relevant connections among all types of internal and external digital assets: content (articles, archives, multimedia, classifieds, graphics); products (books, videos, DVDs); and services (travel packages, subscriptions, newsletters, online courses). For example, a user reading a feature article profiling the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback on startribune.com would see links, generated by Simile Media Server, placed next to the article that connect the reader to a book about the history of the Vikings from Barnes & Noble; to articles about previous Vikings quarterbacks from the paid archives of startribune.com, and to a video clip of Vikings highlights from the previous season. Studies show that readers are far more likely to click on related articles and products than on unrelated advertising (7-8% versus sub-0.5%).

Simile Media Server includes a powerful business rules engine that allows the editorial staff of startribune.com to easily control how content and related links are presented to readers. By allowing for varying levels of automation and approval of relevant opportunities presented to readers, Simile Media Server allows media companies to balance business objectives with editorial standards.

About Star Tribune

The Star Tribune Company, a news and information company serving the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul, is a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company of Sacramento, Calif. (NYSE:MNI). Star Tribune produces the Star Tribune newspaper, one of the top 20 largest newspapers in the nation, with Sunday circulation of 671,359 and daily circulation of 413,085 (per Audit Bureau of Circulation report 9/01). The company also produces a variety of direct marketing, niche print, and electronic services products, including www.startribune.com, the most frequently used local news and information service for the Twin Cities market, with as many as 36 million page views per month. In addition to up-to-the-minute news coverage, the startribune.com network of services includes: FreeTime, Travel, HomeZone, Cars, Shopping, WorkAvenue and Communities. For more information about the company, go to www.startribune.com/company and www.mcclatchy.com.

About Simile Software

Simile Software, Inc. is the emerging leader of unstructured content management technology and solutions for enterprise media companies. Simile's patent-pending software processes unstructured content regardless of format, origin and description, understands concepts within the text and builds relevant connections to internal and external information, products and services. Simile's initial solution addresses the specific needs of enterprise media companies, which are struggling to organize and leverage their vast inventory of content to create additional revenue streams.

Headquartered in New York City, Simile Software, Inc. was founded in 1999 as Nano and was named one of the Top 30 Companies to Watch at Red Herring's Venture East event. For more information, please visit www.similesoftware.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS
marketing@similesoftware.com
(646) 473-2211