ShareThis Creates New Social Measurement to Transform Media Buying Model, Starcom MediaVest Group to Test Methodology

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - Nov 17, 2011) - ShareThis, the world's largest platform for sharing and influence, today announced a new methodology to measure the social quality of sites across the Web. This new standard, the Social Quality Index, is the first measure of Web-wide sharing activity and will provide publishers and advertisers with site rankings across 27 key content categories. Sharing, as an inherently social activity, provides powerful insights on how valuable content is to consumers. As part of Starcom MediaVest Group's ongoing partnership with ShareThis, the agency is assessing the standard's ability to enhance their planning approach for a cross-section of their media buys.

The ShareThis standard derives a raw social traffic score by taking a combined measure of a site's outbound share and inbound clickback traffic, and comparing it to page views. The resulting figure can then be benchmarked against the broader measure of social quality spanning the more than 1 million sites and more than 10 billion monthly sharing signals that make up the ShareThis network. This new measurement brings the value of sharing into consideration, adding more dimension to media buying models that rely more heavily on traffic and audience size. The measure:

• Favors rich content and audience interaction over broad reach
• Identifies users with higher purchase intent
• Identifies audiences who are more likely to disseminate content widely

This new standard is being validated across the ShareThis network of publishers in partnership with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG). SMG will examine the efficacy of the standard as an additional metric to evaluate across its network of brands and publishers.

"Right now, advertisers depend on audience size, engagement and traffic to determine their media buying strategy," said Kate Sirkin, Global Research Director, Starcom MediaVest Group. "ShareThis' standard enables advertisers to also take social sharing into account. We look forward to testing the Social Quality Index as an additional way to reach audiences in a more targeted fashion without losing the scale we're accustomed to."

Publishers currently lack the benchmarking tools they need to develop their digital strategies and monetize their content. Correspondingly, advertisers are overly dependent on hinging their media buys on measurements such as site traffic and reach. This new standard addresses both of these problems with a unique, Web-scale measurement that examines sharing across 120+ social channels and truly defines the value of content.

"ShareThis is on the publishers' side. We recognize that their content and audiences are their own, and they should be able to derive value from creating great content and engaged readers, regardless of their traffic or reach," said Kurt Abrahamson, CEO, ShareThis. "Our social quality standard empowers publishers, allowing them to take advantage of additional social audience monetization opportunities that are available. We're the first to rank based on sharing, we're providing competitive intelligence, and we're helping to clearly identify ways to monetize social activity."

About ShareThis
ShareThis is the largest market for sharing and influence across the Web, reaching more than 85% of the US population online across more than 1 million sites. ShareThis makes content more engaging for publishers and advertising more impactful for brands by tapping into its true influence and value. Based in Palo Alto, CA, with offices in New York and Cincinnati, the company is privately held with funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Blue Chip Venture Company, DFJ Mercury, Illinois Ventures, Matthew Pritzker Company, Queen City Angels, RPM Ventures and Reservoir Partners.

About Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG)
Starcom MediaVest Group is the Human Experience Company. Our dream is to grow our clients' business by transforming human behavior through uplifting, meaningful human experiences. These brand 'experiences' are brought to life by distinct, strategic point-of-views -- Truth and Design and Space for Ideas -- created and owned by SMG's two global agency brands: MediaVest and Starcom, respectively. Ranked one of the largest brand communications groups in the world, Starcom MediaVest Group (www.smvgroup.com) encompasses an integrated network of human experience strategists, investment specialists, content creators and digital experts and part of the Publicis Groupe [listed on the Euronext Paris Exchange - FR0000130577 - and part of the CAC 40 index]. With nearly 6,700 employees in 110 offices worldwide, SMG is the #1 ranked Global Media Agency (AdAge) and 2011 Media Network of the Year at the Global Festival of Media as well as the most celebrated global media network at the 2010 and 2009 Cannes International Advertising Festival.