FOR RELEASE ON OR AFTER 2/19/07:

RINGTALES PREMIERES ANIMATED NEW YORKER CARTOONS PODCAST ON ITUNES AND NEWYORKER.COM

Toon team brings new-media expertise to old-media content

Santa Monica, CA
February 22, 2007

RingTales today announced the debut of a new iTunes podcast featuring animated versions of the world-famous cartoons of The New Yorker magazine.   Subscribers to the free advertiser-supported podcast will receive three new animations of The New Yorker “RingTales” each week. 

RingTales has the exclusive license to animate and distribute The New Yorker’s library of over 70,000 cartoons. “In making the transition from page to screen, we’re building upon the already strong tradition of New Yorker cartoons,” said Robert Mankoff, New Yorker Cartoon Editor and President of The Cartoon Bank.  “It’s been an absolute pleasure to see our 20th century tradition come to life in 21st century technology. It’s an opportunity to expand our audience – and have fun in the process.” The animations will also be able to be seen on The New Yorker’s web site, Newyorker.com, in March.

Santa Monica-based RingTales L.L.C., is a new-media company that creates animated versions of popular print cartoons for syndication across the internet, mobile, broadcast and portable device markets.  RingTales was founded by two industry veterans, Jim Cox and Michael Fry, who last collaborated on the hit DreamWorks animated feature “Over The Hedge.” "Our goal is to replicate and expand the print comic experience across all digital platforms," says Cox.  "The animated New Yorker cartoons are just the start,” adds Fry.  "We will soon be adding a number of the world's most popular comic strips to our animation library, as well as our own original content."

"We have created a unique content niche that appeals both to the viewer and the advertiser,” explains Fry.  “The viewer,” Cox adds, “gets the same free, habit-forming gift of humor they now enjoy with print cartoons, and advertisers get higher view rates than they would with normal video ads.”    Fry says, "We're testing a number of ad formats.  We’re developing a high-impact video post-roll.   In our experience, viewers are happy because they get immediate access to the content.  Advertisers are happy because the content has a great payoff.  In fact, we’re seeing people watch the clips multiple times – it’s an advertiser’s dream come true.”   

Jim Cox is a long-time feature animation writer and producer.   His credits include co-executive producer on the 2006 DreamWorks feature animated hit “Over the Hedge,” writer/producer on “Ferngully,” story on Disney's “Beauty and the Beast,” and screenwriter on “The Rescuers Down Under” and “Oliver & Company.”

Michael Fry is a four time internationally syndicated cartoonist.   He currently writes the comic strip “Over the Hedge,” which inspired the DreamWorks film that earned $335 million dollars in worldwide box office.

If you have iTunes installed you can subscribe to the RingTales New Yorker podcast at: http://www.ringtales.com/podcast.  The cartoons are downloadable on any computer.  An iPod is not required. 

For those without iTunes, our RSS feed is: http://www.ringtales.com/nyrss.xml.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Contact Kate DeFronzo at 310-454-5148
or Email kate@ringtales.com
or visit http://www.ringtales.com

Sonya McNair 212-286-6375
or Email Sonya_McNair@newyorker.com