PointCast Inc, the biggest of the 'push' Web services providing Internet users with constantly updated information, has come up with a new way to pull advertising dollars its way.
From this month, the company will make its network available to publishers for testing. Anyone - from a local business or soccer league to established Web sites such as Microsoft Expedia - will be able to broadcast content in English, at no charge, to PointCast's readership of more than one million registered viewers.
'We expect that this will create a cottage industry of small publishers,' Joseph Pistritto, vice-president of systems engineering, said recently in an interview at Internet World in Los Angeles.
PointCast benefits in two ways. The company expects that the new service will attract a larger registered audience and boost paid advertising on its network.
By opening its network to the public, PointCast might also be better positioned to fend off competition from newer push services such as Marimba and Backweb.
Marimba can push programs on to a computer, in addition to information. Backweb works behind the scenes while the user is on the Internet, making information updates more quickly than other services.
Digital Bindery, another new push technology company, is a free service for subscribers and publishers that delivers updated Web pages directly to users' e-mail boxes daily. Publishers also receive regular demographic statistics reports on the number and geographic distribution of people who have chosen to receive their pages.