AT&T Launches Major Online Ad Campaign

AT&T on Monday launched a major online advertising campaign that the company expects to generate 1 billion impressions this year.

Financial details were not disclosed, but the campaign is the largest ever by either AT&T or SBC Communications Inc., which bought AT&T last year and dropped its name in favor of the latter.

The campaign, which carries the message "Your world. Delivered," include AT&T ads on the home pages of the three leading Web portals, Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and America Online Inc. In addition the company plans to run full-page intro ads on Investors.com, ESPN, ABCNews.com, The Wall Street Journal Online, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, Reuters and Forbes. An intro ad shows the commercial for a few seconds before sending the visitor to the site's homepage.

The ESPN intro ad marks a first for the sports site, AT&T said. The ad will be shown 5 seconds to 7 seconds before the visitor is sent to the site.

Also as part of the campaign, AT&T is sponsoring "open access week" on Investors.com, a Web site owned by Investors Business Daily. By submitting their email, non-subscribers can get access to premium stock research and content at no charge from Jan. 9 through Jan. 15, a subscriber value of more than $20, the San Antonio, Texas-based, company said.