CHICAGO (September 14, 2009) — The popularity of online video is exploding around the country. According to comScore, online video broke new records in July as nearly 160 million Americans streamed a total of 21.4 billion videos. To answer the demand for this ever-evolving trend, Apartment Home Living is taking the apartment search process to a whole new level with the launch of V3 Video Guides. An online video campaign hosted on YouTube^™, V3 Video Guides feature interactive videos that allow renters to roll over and click on actual components of the video to access additional information about a city or apartment community. Apartment Home Living has designed V3 Video Guides for apartment communities located in the top 40 U.S. markets. 

“We’re revolutionizing the way renters view apartment community videos online,” said Larry Cotter, general manager of Apartment Home Living and vice president of Apartments.com. “New online trends reinvent the way renters access online content. It’s our job to continually incorporate the most relevant means to reach renters and thereby drive leads to our advertisers. ‘V3 Video Guides’ simplify the apartment search process by delivering the interactive experience renters prefer and providing the millions of daily YouTube visitors easy access to our listings.”

By utilizing YouTube Video Annotations with apartment community videos and high-quality graphic overlays, Apartment Home Living lets renters interact with video in a way that has never been seen before in the apartment industry. V3 Video Guides feature city overviews including highlights, history, hot spots and apartment communities in the city. At any time, users can click on a community to be taken to videos of sought-after apartments in the area. While the apartment community video plays, renters can roll over buttons displayed on the video to reveal details such as floorplans, rent ranges, available apartment amenities, specials and contact information. Renters can also go directly to the apartment community listing on ApartmentHomeLiving.com by clicking inside the video. If users want to return to the city overview or view all local apartments options listed on ApartmentHomeLiving.com, they are also only a click away from their desired destination.

The city overview videos also offer users roll-over features where renters, looking for their next place to live, can read a summary of the city and learn the starting cost of rent for a one-, two- or three-bedroom apartment. All V3 Video Guides are created in-house by Apartment Home Living.

Content listed on the apartment community videos is kept fresh through technology that updates V3 Video Guides as soon as changes are made at apartment community level. V3 Video Guides can also be featured on apartment community Web sites. To view an example of a V3 Video Guide, visit http://www.YouTube.com/ApartmentHomeLiving or http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9809BA9BEED6F2C0.

About Apartment Home Living
Based in Austin, Texas, Apartment Home Living (http://apartmenthomeliving.com) is the leading apartment lifestyle brand. Apartment Home Living operates off the mantra that apartment living is the “funnest” way to live. With proprietary apartment lifestyle matching, 3,700+ local living guides, social networking and engaging content, Apartment Home Living helps residents find the perfect place, connect with their neighbors and neighborhood and “Live for Fun.” The Apartment Home Living Premium Apartment Manager Program includes a portfolio of personalized flyers, forms, digital brochures, videos and other tools to help apartment managers increase closing and retention ratios.

About Apartments.com
Apartments.com is the most visited national apartment Internet listing subscription service with more than 50,000 unique addresses representing more than three million rental units from managed properties, newspaper classifieds and for-rent-by-owner properties. With personalized searches, highly visual ads featuring "Walk Through Video," "Apartments.com Anywhere" mobile solutions, 360-degree virtual tours, professional photography, and comprehensive community listings, Apartments.com makes it possible for renters to access apartment rental inventory from across town or across the country. Leads from highly qualified ready-to-rent prospects are delivered to Apartments.com customers, increasing closure rates and decreasing the average cost of leasing an apartment. The Web site's foundation of solid partnerships with the local newspaper and television station Web sites of more than 1,000 newspaper affiliate and strategic partners across the country include Yahoo! Real Estate, AOL Real Estate, Univision, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Apartments.com is a division of Chicago-based Classified Ventures, LLC. Additionally, Apartments.com owns and operates Apartment Home Living, a leading social media apartment Web site distinguished by a "live for fun" community experience, proprietary lifestyle matching and local living guides to help renters find their perfect place to live.