MARKETRON INTERNATIONAL LEVERAGES IBM TECHNOLOGY TO SET NEW STANDARD IN GROUP-WIDE BROADCAST MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

NAB 2004, Las Vegas—April 20, 2004—Marketron International today announced that it will leverage IBM technology to set a new standard in group-wide broadcast management solutions. The forthcoming Marketron 6 series of applications will integrate with IBM DB2 Universal Database, enabling an entire television group to share a single sales and traffic database. Broadcasters will be able to eliminate significant amounts of redundant data entry, reduce credit risks and increase cross-station revenues.

Marketron provides integrated Sales, Traffic and Business Intelligence solutions to radio and television broadcasters. Its industry leading applications are used by corporate and station executives, as well as sales, traffic and business department staff. Marketron solutions share critical sales and inventory information and deliver electronic workflow between departments to help stations improve productivity, optimize inventory and increase revenues.

The Marketron 6 series of applications, due to be released in Q3 2004, will add support for IBM’s DB2 Universal Database, the leading database for large enterprises. DB2 Universal Database delivers robust performance, scalability and reliability with self-managing and self-tuning capabilities that reduce the time and cost associated with managing a database.

Marketron solutions manage and store large volumes of a station’s most important data including inventory, advertiser, programming and revenue information. Substantial amounts of historical data are also warehoused to enable real-time business analysis. DB2 Universal Database’s power and scalability will enable Marketron to offer the first broadcast management solution to serve an entire group from a single database.

Operating on a single database will allow all stations in the group to share mutual information such as advertiser credit ratings and programming schedules. The entire group will benefit from reduced aging losses due to better credit risk information and improved productivity due to elimination of redundant data entry. A single, shared database will also enable the group to easily execute cross-station sales and promotions to increase revenue.

“Marketron is dedicated to delivering solutions that make a big difference to a broadcaster’s top and bottom lines,” said Mike Jackson, CEO of Marketron International. “As groups grow in size, so do their opportunities to improve overall performance by integrating their business practices and information. Marketron’s decision to partner with IBM, perhaps the most well recognized leader in enterprise business technology, will enable our clients to take the greatest advantage of these opportunities and underscores our long-term commitment to this market.”

The Value of Connecting the Broadcast Enterprise
From proposal through traffic to billing, a station’s sales and fulfillment process requires input from many people across multiple departments. When each department maintains separate software systems, the entire operation suffers revenue and productivity losses.

Marketron’s enterprise solutions integrate all departments and business processes across a station into a single system and database. Integration enables the sales, traffic and business departments to more easily share information, better optimize inventory and increase revenues.

Storing sales and inventory information in a common database allows for real-time access to data. Corporate managers can check numbers for individual stations or the entire group from their desktop; sales managers can make informed approval decisions in seconds; traffic directors can manage available inventory more effectively because they have the most complete information.

Connecting all departments electronically also eliminates redundant data entry and associated errors. Salespeople spend more time selling; traffic managers focus on optimizing inventory; station revenues increase.

About Marketron International
Marketron International is a leading provider of broadcast management solutions for the Radio, TV and Cable industries. Marketron’s fully integrated suite of sales, traffic, finance and business intelligence solutions automates workflow from proposal to billing, enabling groups to optimize inventory and increase revenues. Today, 80% of the top broadcast groups in North America license Marketron solutions. Privately held, Marketron International has more than 250 employees, in five offices in North America. The company is headquartered in Burlingame, Calif. For more information, please visit www.marketron.com.