MTV Networks’ 24-hour college network, mtvU, announced a contract to acquire RateMyProfessors.com, the Internet’s largest free listing of collegiate-professor ratings.
Summing up 6.6 million user-generated ratings of 900,000 professors, the ratings list reaches about 10 million college students yearly.
The acquisition -- along with mtvU.com and the previously acquired College Publisher network of more than 500 online college newspapers -- makes mtvU the second-most-trafficked set of general-interest college-focused Web sites. The network is broadcast to 750 U.S. colleges and more than 7.2 million students.
“Of all the parties that approached us, mtvU was the most tapped into college culture and by far the best fit,” RateMyProfessors.com president Will DeSantis said. “mtvU has the team, know-how and resources to take RateMyProfessors.com to the next level, and we're thrilled to join with the network to continue offering our users new tools to plan their academic careers."
Since launching in January 2004, mtvU has increased distribution by more than 40%, quintupling the size of its advertiser base and becoming the first MTVN channel distributed entirely on broadband. It also boosted its number of on-campus events to more than 500 per year.
The RateMyProfessors.com transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2007.
RateMyProfessors.com will be the latest addition to the MTVN multiplatform family, which also includes Y2M, Atom Entertainment, GameTrailers.com, Harmonix, IFILM, Neopets and Xfire.
