Mountain News Corporation Acquires SkiReport.com Providing Expanded Online and Mobile Reach
BROOMFIELD, Colo. – Sep. 14, 2011 – Mountain News Corporation, publisher of OnTheSnow, the most visited snowsports website in the world, is expanding with the acquisition of SkiReport.com, the second most visited ski report website in North America.
The SkiReport website will be merged with the OnTheSnow website for the winter 2011-2012 season, which will augment OnTheSnow’s 9.6 million annual unique visitors to more than 12 million. The acquisition not only solidifies Mountain News Corporation’s role as the leader in online snowsports content but also increases its installed mobile application base in North America from 85,000 to 945,000, a 10- times increase.
The SkiReport mobile platform consists of a highly acclaimed iPhone and Android application that has generated 860,000 downloads and an estimated 54 million in screen impressions for last ski and snowboard season. According to Chad Dyer, global managing director of Mountain News Corporation, the SkiReport app has a very unique and powerful feature that allows skiers and snowboarders to provide firsthand ski and snow reports and has emerged as the industry leader in user-generated snow reporting.
“This acquisition positions us well to take advantage of the strong growth we are seeing in mobile platforms around the world,” said Dyer. “The SkiReport mobile user base coupled with our powerful online portal instantly makes OnTheSnow the market share leader in reaching skiers and snowboarders through all channels in North America, creating both a terrific user experience and an excellent opportunity for our advertising partners.”
The SkiReport mobile app will become the default application for OnTheSnow and Dyer plans to integrate user-generated snow reports into OnTheSnow’s web site for this winter season. Going forward Mountain News will be providing the snow reports for the SkiReport mobile app, replacing the reports provided by SnoCountry Mountain Reports.
For more information, visit www.OnTheSnow.com or www.SkiReport.com
About OnTheSnow.com and Mountain News Corporation
OnTheSnow is operated by Mountain News Corporation (MNC), a subsidiary of Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN). The site is visited by over 9.6 million unique skiers and snowboarders a year, and is published in 14 countries world-wide. The company also provides snow reports to more than 1,500 web sites throughout the world, including approximately 400 news media websites. The Company’s pre-produced radio snow reports are delivered to affiliate stations in 17 radio networks and 800 stations across the U.S.
About Vail Resorts
Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading mountain resort operator in the United States. The Company's subsidiaries operate the mountain resort properties of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone mountain resorts in Colorado, and Heavenly Mountain Resort and Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada, and the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The Company's subsidiary, RockResorts, a luxury resort hotel company, manages casually elegant properties across the United States and in the Caribbean. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning, development and construction subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and the consumer website is www.snowusa.com.