• Jupiter Research, Monday, April 3, 2006 11:34 AM

Julian Smith, an analyst with Jupiter Research, recently reported that the classified advertising business in the United Kingdom was in a precarious state, poised to be blasted by fee-free online ad sites such as Craigslist. For local newspapers, the future looked grim indeed, Smith had written. Now he returns with a somewhat more cheery point of view. Smith: "In a classic example of turning threat into opportunity, the UK Trader Media Group, which publishes more than 70 magazines and associated Web sites, is launching their very own local free site called Wooo (we own our own). It seems their business strategy is to build up a significant user base on this site, which they can then exploit by cross-selling their extensive portfolio of ad-funded properties, such as autotrader.co.uk. So by giving away free ad listings they still hope indirectly to generate ad revenues elsewhere. It seems the demise of classified revenues could be to the advantage of display formats." Smith is likely to return to this topic in the months ahead; the question is will he still be pleased by the advent of Wooo?

Read the whole story at Jupiter Research »