Los Angeles, Calif. May 3. /PR Newswire/ -- Today Ultramercial, the Internet advertising agency that invented the proprietary Day Pass model, announced first quarter metrics that continue to prove the power of the model. The company, which has run close to 300 campaigns for over 100 of the leading brands in the US, revealed its key metrics for the first quarter of 2006:

* An average click-through rate of 6.85%
* An average viewing time of 43.2 seconds (even though most Ultramercial
ad units could be completed within 30 seconds)
* A completion rate of 70%

The metrics were derived by averaging the results from all campaigns run between January 1 through March 31, 2006, across all of Ultramercial's publisher-partner sites.

"These are the metrics that nearly all advertisers would love to have... but don't. Why? Because only Ultramercial creates an explicit relationship between the viewer and the advertiser, which fully engages the viewer," said Paul Grusche, SVP Sales & Marketing. "Our business model offers viewers a chance to get normally-paid content for free, if they'll engage with the advertiser inside our full-screen ad unit. Viewers become immersed in the ad messaging. This quarter's 6.85% click-through rate and 43 seconds of time spent per ad bear this out."

"Ultramercial's opt-in model provides Internet users with a no-cost way to read the cover story at TIME.com, play a premium game at Real Arcade or watch a VOD news feed at ABCNews.com, by 'paying' with their time instead of their credit card," added Rick Vandervoorn, Ultramercial's East Coast VP of Sales. "These viewers see the explicit value the ads are providing, and they elect to watch and become engaged. These click-through rates for Q1 are actually higher than the previous year, which we take as a clear sign that the Ultramercial format is a sound long-term investment for our advertiser partners."