This breadth vs. depth debate is often labeled as Portals vs. Destinations. Vertical portals target a specific demographic, then focus the content and commerce offerings around that demographic. Blanket banner advertising across leading broad- portals will die as vertical portals allow companies to get more bang for their buck. Student Advantage has become a preferred destination for college students and a point of access for advertisers and marketers to reach this attractive market. To date, Student Advantage has built relationships with more than 800 colleges and universities, as well as a network of more than 50 national and over 15,000 local business partners in over 125 cities across the country.
College students are the most wired segment of the U.S. population.
By year 2000, the number of college students online will reach 12.5 million, or 92 percent of all college students, according to Jupiter Communications. Net savvy, this audience surfs and spends online. A strong reason why we like the company is the synergies that exist between its offline and Web businesses. Both the offline and online initiatives act as effective tools to enroll students in the company's Student Advantage Membership Program. This program is the company's primary source of revenue.