Internet giant will take StudyDog's service to the masses
By Aliza Earnshaw
The Business Journal of Portland
Updated: 7:00 p.m. ET March 19, 2006

A marketing deal with Internet giant America Online Inc. could boost a Portland startup to the next level.
AOL has chosen to offer the early-reading program created by StudyDog Inc., a 4-year-old Beaverton company, as part of its new educational services products.
Called "AOL Ready Set Read," the program is available at www.aol.com/learning. AOL is offering the program with a free trial, which then moves to a subscription service at $4.95 per month.
The deal is a huge coup for StudyDog. Though its reading programs have been lauded by educators and parents -- not to mention the kids who use them -- it's been difficult to find an effective channel for reaching consumers.
AOL looked at "at all of the leading educational companies" early-reading programs before selecting StudyDog, said June Herold, vice president of AOL's education and consumer services division.
AOL was looking for a program that was effective, fun, and would allow parents to monitor their children's progress, said Herold. The chosen company also had to be ready to go to market fast.
"There's a lot of value in leveraging well-known brands," said Herold. "But the flip side of that is the value in bringing breakthrough and innovative solutions, something very new and attractive to consumers. StudyDog came out on top in all of these categories."
During the fourth quarter, AOL had 109 million monthly unique visitors in the United States and 54 billion page views, according to ComScore Media Metrix.
StudyDog will get about 35 percent of AOL's $4.95 monthly charge for the reading program. That's far below the company's usual one-time price, up to $50 per child, depending on the program a parent chooses.
Though StudyDog's portion of AOL's program seems small, all of that revenue is pure profit for the company. AOL bears all marketing costs, and "they know what they are doing," said Clainos.
The early-reading program is one of four educational programs AOL launched in January. Since then, 100,000 people have registered for its educational programs, said Herold, a figure that includes those still using the programs on free trial.