About.com Celebrates 15th Anniversary as a Leading Provider of High Quality Content

Leading Independent Experts Assist Consumers to Solve Life’s Everyday Needs and Questions

NEW YORK (June 27, 2011) – About.com (http://www.about.com) today celebrates its 15^thanniversary of providing users with a platform where independent subject matter Guides offer solutions to the needs of everyday life on nearly 900 popular topics.

These topics, which range from Health to Autos, Food & Drink to Jobs & Careers, Style to Parenting & Family, and more, are written by highly-qualified experts, including board qualified doctors, automotive journalists, financial planners, licensed dieticians, and award-winning chefs.

“About.com has served as a vital platform for content that has helped consumers solve needs and accomplish goals by offering valuable information and answers from trustworthy, passionate and accomplished experts,” said Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president, digital operations, The New York Times Company.

Additionally, About.com has become a preeminent platform for display advertisers who want to target audiences with their goods and services while they are in search of specific information.

“About.com has always offered brands a way to connect with users at a time when they are seeking solutions and answers across all lifestyle touchpoints and categories,” added Mitchell Kreuch, senior vice president of sales, About.com.

In May 2011, About.com’s Guide sites received nearly 36 million unique visitors in the U.S. [i], growing traffic almost forty percent since being acquired by The New York Times Company in 2005 [ii]. In addition, almost seventy percent of About.com’s users conduct research online before making any major purchase.[iii] In fact, as a result of seeing an advertisement on About.com, 44 percent of users visited the advertiser’s Web site and 40 percent purchased a new product [iv]. Most interestingly, About.com users have spent a combined $718 billion dollars on consumer packaged goods in the past year. [v]

Over the past fifteen years, the number of Guides offering content on About.com has doubled.  In addition, About.com recently launched a Spanish language channel, About en Español, which currently features 20 topics such as movies, music, wellness, cooking for kids, dogs, Internet for beginners, personal computers, mom’s advice, literature, diabetes and makeup, with nearly 80 more expected by the end 2011.

In addition, About.com marks its anniversary by looking back at the 15 most popular categories among users. These include: Health, Education, Food & Drink, Computing & Technology, Travel, Home & Garden, Business & Finance, Entertainment, Style, Parenting & Family, Hobbies & Games, New & Issues, Cities & Towns, Electronics & Gadgets, and Religion. Many of these categories have consistently ranked in the top 15 categories over time. 

To commemorate the milestone, About.com has also put out a call to action to users to post and share their memories from 15 years ago on its Facebook page.

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About The About Group

The About Group comprises the Web sites About.com, ConsumerSearch.com and CalorieCount.com.  About.com is a valuable platform for content that helps users solve the large and small needs of everyday life. ConsumerSearch.com analyzes expert and user-generated consumer product reviews and recommends the best products to purchase based on the findings. CalorieCount.com is an online resource that helps users solve the everyday challenges of losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle.

The About Group is part of The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2010 revenues of $2.4 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com.  The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.