Bertelsmann's BOL.COM and Unilever Nederland B.V. Lead Charge Toward Broadband / Rich Media Advertising in European Marketplace @Home Nederland, the leading high-speed cable Internet service in the Netherlands, today announced the first advertisers to deliver interactive, rich media advertising campaigns to the wired @Home Nederland subscriber. The charter advertisers, Bertelsmann's BOL.COM and Unilever Nederland B.V., will run comprehensive online advertising campaigns on the @Home Nederland broadband service. Launched last month, the @Home Nederland experience brings eight channels of unique broadband content and multimedia applications such as integrated Dutch and international news, video on demand, high-quality audio, and high- speed games to over 1.4 million households throughout the Netherlands. Harry Dekker, Senior Media Manager of Unilever Nederland B.V., sees online advertising as a valuable addition to communications in the Dutch media landscape. "We believe that rich media advertising with @Home Nederland is the path online advertising will take in the future," Dekker said. "We see our cooperation with @Home Nederland -- and with Excite@Home in the US -- as the best way to develop new digital marketing concepts. This way, we will create a unique interaction with our consumers." Unilever and Bertelsmann will leverage their own experience with interactive advertising, as well as @Home's knowledge of the broadband market and expertise in rich media advertising. @Home's creative services group will work directly with each company and its advertising agency to design, create and deliver the ads on the @Home Nederland broadband Internet service. "Our participation in @Home Nederland's Charter Advertising program serves to emphasize the steps we've already taken in the broadband Internet world," said Rick van Boekel of BOL.COM. "It is BOL Nederland's aim to take a prominent position in the e- commerce market of media products. This ties in well with the extensive possibilities @Home offers its advertisers in regard to getting into contact with the @Home audience." "We are delighted to have these international marketing leaders join us in this exciting endeavor in the Netherlands," said Suzan Fluitman, media development manger, @Home Nederland. "Their participation signals a firm understanding of what interactive advertising in the broadband environment can deliver in the way of building and strengthening the bond between organizations and their consumers and its increasingly prominent role in the media mix." @Home Nederland offers the first fully integrated broadband advertising platform in Europe. Because the 'fat-pipe' cable connection to consumers homes enables high-speed content delivery and all plug-ins are built into the @Home browser, advertisers can employ a variety of powerful multimedia such as video, audio, 3-D and animation. Combining these rich media creative options with consumer profiling, ad serving and campaign success reporting capabilities offered by @Home, advertisers can send highly interactive, long- playing and targeted messages to consumers on the @Home Nederland service. "Our @Home Nederland charter advertisers have the advantage of our strong presence and expertise in rich media advertising on the Excite@Home service in the US," said Susan Bratton, vice president of Market Development, Excite@Home Corporation. "We have more than two years experience working with digital marketing leaders to design, deliver and measure rich media advertising in this high-speed, multimedia-rich environment. We look forward to collaborating with Bertelsmann's BOL.COM and Unilever to deliver effective broadband advertising that helps them reach their online marketing goals." A 1998 rich media advertising effectiveness study conducted by IPSOS-ASI Interactive, the leading Internet market research firm in the United States, and co-sponsored by @Home and Intel, found that broadband advertising significantly increases brand recall and comprehension. The study also found that broadband advertising provides more effective branding experiences, engages viewers for a longer period of time, and results in lower cost- per- branding impression (CPB). The charter advertisers announced their alliance with @Home Nederland today at @d:tech Europe, the world's leading conference on Internet marketing, advertising and commerce held in the RAI in Amsterdam. @Home is demonstrating the Excite@Home broadband experience and rich media advertising at the conference; and is sponsoring a Rich Media Workshop designed to provide attendees with best practices and examples of how to harness the potential of rich media advertising. For more information on the event or the workshop, please visit www.ad-tech.com. About Bertelsmann AG Bertelsmann AG is the third largest media company in the world with annual sales of approximately DM 28 billion - including non- consolidated revenues. The company has significant interests in all areas of media including book, magazine and newspaper publishing, music, television, online, film and radio. With more than 600 individual companies, Bertelsmann currently employs nearly 60,000 people in more than 50 countries. About Unilever Nederland B.V. Unilever Nederland B.V. is a subsidiary of Unilever N.V. Unilever Nederland B.V. in turn has eight Dutch subsidiaries, which employ approximately 6400 people. As in other countries a national management board is responsible for the social, fiscal and financial policies and for the communication with government, consumer organizations and social groups. The subsidiaries all produce under separate name and as a result have their own identity towards consumers, customers, employees and environment. The subsidiaries that focus on the consumer market sell their products under well- known brand names. They have a relatively large staff for marketing and sales and are supported by special departments for market research and advertising. The delivery of new products is an ongoing process, in which a close cooperation exists between the different business groups and the research labs of Unilever. About @Home Nederland Based in Amsterdam, @Home Nederland is a joint venture between Excite@Home, Intel Corporation, CasTel and Palet Kabelcom. @Home Nederland currently has distribution agreements with CasTel, Palet Kabelcom, and Nutsbedrijven Maastricht through which it reaches over 1.4 million households in the Netherlands. @Home Nederland currently employs 80 people in Amsterdam. The company develops and markets a Dutch version of @Home's high-speed cable Internet service in the Netherlands and the Flemish-speaking parts of Belgium by leveraging @Home's technology, content, systems and operating expertise combined with high quality Dutch and European content. Individuals seeking additional information can refer to the @Home Nederland website: http//www.home.nl. About Excite@Home Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) is a global media company based in Redwood City, Calif. Through the company's narrowband portal, Excite (www.excite.com), and broadband services, @Home and @Work, the company uniquely offers consumers content and interactive services across both narrowband and broadband, and advertisers highly targeted marketing solutions across all platforms of delivery. Leveraging the high-speed, always-on attributes of cable, Excite@Home empowers unique multimedia applications that go beyond current Web experiences. The company will combine the Excite brand - one of the best known names on the Internet with 70 percent recognition among Web users - with Home's broad distribution -- a worldwide footprint resulting from its agreements with 21 cable companies, to deliver on its vision of "All Band, All Device, All the Time." Excite@Home, @Home Network, @Work, @Home Nederland, @Home Benelux, and the @ ball logo are registered trademarks of At Home Corporation. All other product and brand names are trademarks of the respective owners. This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the safe harbors created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include statements related to: the technology path that online advertising will take in the future; the ability of rich media advertising on the @Home Nederland service to create a unique interaction with customers; the ability of @Home Nederland's services group to work directly with each company and its advertising agency to design, create and deliver ads on @Home Nederland; the ability of broadband interactive advertising to build and strengthen the bond between organizations and their consumers; the ability of advertisers to utilize the fully- integrated platform offered by @Home Nederland. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including: the general public acceptance of broadband rich media advertising; the technological, operational, and financial challenges of combining rich media with consumer profiling, ad serving and campaign success reporting capabilities to allow advertisers to send highly interactive, long-playing and targeted messages to consumers; and the ability of advertisers to take advantage of this rich media platform. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and uncertainties described from time to time in @Home's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see the risk factors described in @Home's Form S-3 filed on April 9, 1999 and in its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1998 filed on February 19, 1999. @Home assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release. ots Original Text Service: @Home Nederland Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Leigh Dally of @Home Network / Enliven, 781-768-2036, ldally@enliven.home.net or Teddi Herman of Access Communications, 415-904-7070, ext. 250, therman@accesspr.com Web site: http://www.ad-tech.com Web site: http://www.home.nl