Macromedia Players Enlivened

Macromedia Inc. and @Home Network Tuesday entered into an alliance that will bring rich media advertising to Macromedia’s applications by integrating @Home’s Enliven technology into the Flash and Shockwave multimedia players.

Under the terms of the agreement, Enliven technology will be integrated into the applications to create an industry-standard delivery mechanism for rich-media advertisements. In addition, @Home’s high-speed Internet subscribers will be encouraged to visit the newly announced shockwave.com, an entertainment site run by Macromedia.

With the alliance, the two firms are looking to broaden consumer reach of Enliven’s multimedia ad delivery and tracking capabilities, as well as expand the audience for multimedia Web advertising, said Rob Burgess, Macromedia’s chairman and chief executive officer.

“@Home shares our passion for entertainment and rich media on the Web,” Burgess said. “This alliance extends the reach of shockwave.com and further establishes Macromedia Shockwave and Flash, along with @Home’s Enliven, as the key enablers of rich-media Web advertising.”

Shockwave.com, announced earlier this week, will feature rich media content including cartoons, comics, music, games and popular material from movies and television. It is slated to launch in June.