Brand Abuse in the SEM Channel: Billions of Dollars at Risk, According to Atrinsic Interactive White Paper

Atrinsic Interactive, a division of Atrinsic Inc. (Nasdaq:ATRN), today released a white paper at atrinsicaffiliatenetwork.com, which details the growing challenges of – and strategies for – preventing affiliate brand abuse in the SEM channel. The Affiliate Brand Abuse Explosion in the SEM Channel reveals that brands are at a greater risk than ever before of having their SEM brand campaigns hijacked, their brand equity diluted, and of falsely paying out valuable advertising dollars. Focused on solutions, the paper offers proven strategies for locking down brands to prevent abuse, potentially saving advertisers an average of over 40% in previously misattributed revenue.

"Our data shows that the dollars lost by hijacked brands could hit $1.6 billion by 2014,” said Atrinsic Interactive EVP Aaron Baker, who will be presenting results of the Atrinsic white paper on March 22^nd, in a session titled "Is Your Affiliate Program Cannibalizing Your Paid Search Efforts?" at SES New York, the industry’s leading search and social marketing conference and expo.

"The good news is that as hijacking techniques become more sophisticated and prevalent, so do the tracking techniques, technologies, and strategies for locking out what is becoming chronic brand abuse,” continued Baker. "This white paper seeks to not only highlight the problem, but to provide advertisers with proven tactics that can help them detect and prevent brand abuse, saving millions of dollars.”

The Affiliate Brand Abuse Explosion in the SEM Channel includes a case study detailing how a major online advertiser whose brand was consistently and successfully being hijacked, was able to track, detect and prevent systematic brand abuse. The advertiser, who had noticed a dramatic increase in CPAs on branded terms, turned to Atrinsic Interactive. Through its proprietary technology, Atrinsic quickly discovered that affiliates had been violating trademark terms and conditions 97% of the time. Within two weeks of applying Atrinsic’s tracking technologies and integrated approach, those violations were reduced by 50%; and, by month’s end, $50k in fraudulent fees had been reversed for the Atrinsic Interactive client, with an estimated annual savings for the advertiser of $600K.

In addition to the advertiser case study, highlights of the white paper include insights into the key tactics brand abusers utilize to hijack the channel and the consequences for the brands abused, as well as the top three things to consider before instituting brand lockdown technologies and the top five tips for locking down a brand – from understanding and tracking campaigns to setting the appropriate affiliate and publisher guidelines.

To read the full white paper, The Affiliate Brand Abuse Explosion in the SEM Channel, click here.

About Atrinsic Interactive

Atrinsic Interactive, a division of Atrinsic, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATRN), is a full service agency and affiliate network ranked by Advertising Age as one of the top 10 Search Marketing Agencies for 2010.* Offering clients a cross-platform approach, Atrinsic Interactive is dedicated to delivering customers to its clients in the most cost-efficient manner possible by bridging the gap between search and other online marketing channels. Atrinsic Interactive helps advertisers drive leads, acquire customers and build brands through an integrated suite of customer marketing solutions and technology, including SEM/SEO services, business intelligence, social media, the Atrinsic Affiliate Network (atrinsicaffiliatenetwork.com), display advertising, email marketing, mobile marketing, creative services, and its proprietary brand protection technology, Brandlock.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company’s actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. A number of factors, including those described in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), could adversely affect the Company. Copies of the Company’s filings with the SEC are available from the SEC, may be found on the Company’s website or may be obtained upon request from the Company. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein, which speaks only as of this date.

*Advertising Age April 26, 2010 "Agency Report 2010” Top 25 Search Agencies