Topix.net, a local search news Web site has partnered with Tribune Interactive to run their online classifieds for general merchandising advertising. The general merchandise classifieds will launch in February starting with the baltimoresun.com and will be available on all 12 Tribune Interactive sites by the end of May.
“Topix.net is dedicated to connecting people to their local communities — whether through locally targeted news, local discussion forums or classified listings,” said Rich Skrenta, CEO of Topix.net. “We’re happy Tribune Interactive took the leading step, and look forward to working with many more publishers to expand the classifieds network.”
Consumers will have the choice of paying for “featured” ads that are highlighted and appear in search results in a specific category. The merchandise ads will appear in both the Tribune sites and on the Topix site. The two companies will share revenues from the paid ads on the co-branded sites.
The general merchandise classified ads will not include autos and jobs. Tribune Interactive currently partners with other online listing sites like CareerBuilder, cars.com and Homescape.
“Tribune Interactive has enjoyed great success partnering with national vertical sites such as Apartments.com, CareerBuilder, cars.com, and Homescape, and we believe partnering with Topix.net will enable us to provide our customers with a very competitive offering in the general merchandise category,” said Tim Landon, president of Tribune Interactive.
“Topix.net provides TI with a solution for the general merchandise category that efficiently integrates our Web sites and call centers, seamlessly providing our customers with additional exposure for their ads.”
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Mike is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
