PEOPLES BANCORP INC. - P.O. BOX 738 - MARIETTA, OH  45750
                                                          www.peoplesbancorp.com


                                  NEWS RELEASE


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            Contact: Mark F. Bradley
- ---------------------                     President and Chief Executive Officer
January 17, 2006                          (740) 373-3155


                         PEOPLES BANCORP INC. AUTHORIZES
                           REPURCHASE OF COMMON SHARES
                -------------------------------------------------
                  Four Board members nominated for re-election

         MARIETTA, Ohio - At its regular meeting last week, the Board of
Directors of Peoples Bancorp Inc. ("Peoples") (NASDAQ: PEBO) adopted a stock
repurchase plan authorizing the repurchase in 2006 of up to 425,000 (or
approximately 4%) of Peoples' outstanding common shares from time to time in
open market transactions.
         The repurchased common shares will be held as treasury shares and are
anticipated to be used for future exercises of stock options granted under
Peoples' stock option plans, purchases of common shares for Peoples' Dividend
Reinvestment Plan, future issuances of common shares in connection with Peoples'
deferred compensation plans, potential acquisitions and other general corporate
purposes.
         The timing of the purchases and the actual number of common shares
purchased will depend on market conditions and limitations imposed by applicable
federal securities laws. The stock repurchase plan will expire on December 31,
2006, and the common shares purchased will not exceed an aggregate purchase
price of $11.5 million.
         In other action, Peoples' Board members Carl L. Baker, Jr., George W.
Broughton, Wilford D. Dimit and Richard Ferguson were nominated for re-election
by the Shareholders at the Annual Meeting to be held on April 13, 2006. Each
nominee is up for re-election as a director of Peoples for a three-year term
expiring in 2009.
         Peoples also announced it will release 2005 earnings before the market
opens on January 24, 2006. Peoples' executive management will conduct a
facilitated conference call to discuss fourth quarter and 2005 results of
operations at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on the same date. Analysts, media
and individual investors are invited to participate in the conference call by
calling 877-407-8033. A simultaneous webcast of the conference call audio can be
accessed via the Investor Relations section on Peoples' website,
www.peoplesbancorp.com, where a replay will also be available.
         Peoples Bancorp Inc., a diversified financial products and services
company with $1.9 billion in assets, makes available a complete line of banking,
investment, insurance, and trust solutions through 49 locations and 34 ATMs in
Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Peoples' financial service units include
Peoples Bank, Peoples Financial Advisors (a division of Peoples Bank) and
Peoples Insurance Agency, Inc. Peoples' common shares are traded on the NASDAQ
National Market under the symbol "PEBO", and Peoples is a member of the Russell
3000 index of US publicly traded companies. Learn more about Peoples at
www.peoplesbancorp.com.

                                 END OF RELEASE