BitTorrent enlists Atomic PR

Author: Celeste Altus

SAN FRANCISCO: BitTorrent has hired Atomic Public Relations as its first-ever global PR agency after looking at more than a dozen agencies.

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer content delivery system that provides Internet users with a simple way to download large files. Using the software, users can download small bits of a file from multiple users, rather than depend on one user to supply a file.

The move comes as the peer-to-peer platform service gears up to announce partnerships for content with major companies in February.

Lily Lin, BitTorrent communications director, has run BitTorrent's communications department by herself since January 2006.

"It was evident we needed to increase our PR," she said. "Hiring an agency was the way to go."

According to Atomic, BitTorrent accounts for as much as 40% of all worldwide Internet traffic by bandwidth and has an install base of 135 million users.

Atomic will use a mix of analyst and media relations outreach, Web communications, and events.

Atomic started its work just after the first of the year, with BitTorrent's announcement from the Consumer Electronics Show that it was partnering with NetGear to promote video downloads streamed to high-definition televisions through the new NetGear Digital Entertainer HD.

Atomic and two other firms made the final round in the review, conducted in December.

BitTorrent said it chose Atomic because its principals were impressed with the firm's creativity and energy, as well as its diligence and methodical nature, Lin said.