Gratis Internet, the creator of the wildly successful FreeiPods.com campaign, has been named the eighteenth fastest growing company in the U.S. in Inc. Magazine’s prestigious 2005 Inc. 500 ranking. Last year, Gratis was ranked 95th in the Inc. 500.
Gratis operates a network of Web sites through its proprietary free payment method called FreePay, including freeiPods.com. The FreePay network of 12 Web sites hosts advertising offers from a variety of companies including Citibank, Blockbuster, Columbia House and BMG.
When a visitor to a Gratis site becomes a lead through one of the affiliate links, Gratis is paid by that advertiser for delivering a customer lead. Using those revenues, Gratis pays for the items it gives away, which include iPods (of which Gratis has given away more than 20,000 in the last 16 months), flat screen televisions and monitors, designer handbags, Xbox 360s, digital cameras and more.
The 2004 revenues for Gratis were $20.5 million, representing three-year growth of 2,350 percent.
Rob Jewell, CEO of Gratis Internet, will be on a panel at Affiliate Summit 2006 about the future of affiliate marketing.