Corporate Client Demand for Webcasting Surges: Thomson Financial Crosses 100,000 Mark in Webcast Production
Thomson Financial Unveils New Webcasting Operations Center in Boston
NEW YORK, June 12 /CNW/ -- Thomson Financial, an operating unit of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) and a leading provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community, today announced it reached a major milestone by producing and creating its 100,000th client webcast. Thomson Financial introduced its webcasting and webhosting services in October 2000, and produced more than 25,000 webcasts in 2006 and 10,000 to date in 2007.
"We've seen client demand for video webcasting double in 2006 from 2005, with the bulk of the growth in internal communications and external training, marketing and public relations events," said Greg Radner, senior vice president of Thomson Financial's Corporate Communications Services.
In 2000, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) to eliminate selective disclosure of material nonpublic information by U.S. public companies. The new regulation caused a spike in webcasted conference calls and presentations, with many public companies initially opting to use audio-only webcasts. Over time, public companies have augmented their audio calls and presentations with PowerPoint slides, supporting materials, online Q&A and a range of other multimedia features.
Today, Thomson Financial delivers high performance and reliable webcasts for events including quarterly and annual earnings conference calls, shareholder meetings, analyst days, M&A announcements, product launches, employee training and crisis communications. Companies can choose from live audio-only webcasts to full production video events. Thomson Financial also helps companies extend the reach of their webcasts by posting them to Thomson StreetEvents, a subscription-based corporate disclosure portal used by more than 22,000 investment professionals around the world as a primary source for information on corporate events, guidance, transcripts, briefs, SEC filings and more.
"Our services facilitate 'show and tell' for the broadband age," said Radner. "C-suite officers increasingly want to speak and present directly to analysts, shareholders, employees and institutional investors, to communicate to all of their constituencies. We offer them an opportunity to do this."
Thomson Financial recently launched iShowcase, an integrated video and Flash player, to tap into growing client demand for more interactive services and features. Thomson iShowcase is a presentation platform designed to educate and engage audiences while improving the comprehension and retention of the client's message. It can be customized to incorporate the client's branding, supporting materials such as slides and presentations, as well as animation, to reinforce the setting and messages that the client is communicating. The increased demand in client webcasting led Thomson Financial to build an operations center in Boston and to link similar Thomson Financial facilities in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany and Hong Kong. The Boston-based facility will be used to encode and digitize live and taped webcasts.
"As a publicly held company, we rely on Thomson Financial to help us meet and exceed the disclosure regulations required by the SEC," said David E. Gable, Chief Financial Officer and senior vice president for KEMET Electronics Corporation. "But we have also tapped into the rich media capabilities of Thomson Financial's webcasting platform by using high quality audio and video to deliver a more compelling, interactive message to our internal and external audiences."
About Thomson Financial Corporate Services
Backed by more than 15 years of experience serving the needs of 4,500 corporations worldwide, the Corporate Services segment of Thomson Financial combines the industry's highest quality suite of solutions with outstanding client service and proven best practices to help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of corporate officers across the investor relations, corporate communications, treasury and corporate finance functions.
Thomson Financial offers the industry's highest quality and most comprehensive suite of online corporate communications services. Leveraging this compelling and interactive suite of Web-based rich media solutions, corporate communications professionals now have a cost-effective and measurable alternative to traditional communications methods, enabling them to maximize the effectiveness and reach of their internal and external communications.
About Thomson Financial
Thomson Financial, with 2006 revenues of US$2 billion, is a provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community. Through the widest range of products and services in the industry, Thomson Financial helps clients in more than 70 countries make better decisions, be more productive and achieve superior results. Thomson Financial is part of The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), a global leader in providing essential electronic workflow solutions to business and professional customers. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to professionals in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).
SOURCE: Thomson Financial
SOURCE: The Thomson Corporation
Joe Christinat of Thomson Financial, (646) 822-2392, or mobile, (646) 256-4353, or joe.christinat@thomson.com Web Site: http://www.thomsonfinancial.com, http://www.thomson.com