• by Karl Greenberg , August 25, 2009

AutoTrader.com, an online marketplace for used and new cars, has signed deals with Atlanta-based Cox Media Group and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to provide vehicle listings and content to the companies' Web sites. The companies say it will boost drive traffic for AutoTrader.com and the newspaper and Cox Media Group radio stations' Web sites.

Under the Cox agreement, AutoTrader.com will handle new and used on-line automobile classified listings on 73 of Cox's radio sites covering 18 markets nationwide. They include stations in Atlanta; Miami; Honolulu; Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; Richmond, Va.; and Long Island, N.Y.

In many of these markets, Cox operates a cluster of radio stations, meaning that AutoTrader.com's listings will be visible on multiple stations' Web sites in the same market, dramatically increasing exposure for listings.

When consumers visit automotive sections of Cox radio stations' sites, they will see a co-branded autos channel powered by AutoTrader.com. The host radio station will handle news links and advertising displays.

Visitors to AJC's auto's section, which used to be AJCcars.com, will be redirected to AutoTrader.com, which provides listings and automotive content, research, and reviews and compares functionality. The AJCcars print section will continue to be published in the papers' Friday and Saturday editions, and the AJC will manage content.

John Kovac, senior director of consumer advertising for the Atlanta-based AutoTrader, says AJC's participation furthers a deal that AutoTrader did last year to put AutoTrader functionality on the sites of Cox-owned papers such as The Palm Beach Post, Austin American-Statesman and Dayton Daily News. The Atlanta Journal Constitution is Cox's flagship pub.

"We piloted with those papers, but the Cox radio piece is a different beast," Kovac says. "For the newspapers, we provide them with classified listings and content in any local markets and also give them a best-of-breed experience for consumers." He adds that the company is in the midst of a major ad campaign, and will ramp up media activity on "Monday Night Football."