• by Wendy Davis , January 5, 2006

The e-mail services company and Internet darling YouSendIt, named one of the top 100 Web sites by PC Mag in April for allowing users to upload files as large as 1 gigabyte, has partnered with one of the most vilified types of Web businesses--an adware company.

YouSendIt.com is now bundling a "premium" version of its services--which allows users to send downloads to as many as 25,000 recipients--with 180solutions' Zango Search Assistant, an ad-serving program that sends consumers pop-up ads based on their Web surfing history.

The program, which has been offered on a test basis since November, has so far drawn a mix of consumer and business users, said Ken Yang, YouSendIt vice president of business development. Among the business users are photographers, graphic artists, illustrators, and e-mail marketing companies, Yang said.

180solutions is known for consumer ads, but Sean Sundwall, 180solutions director of corporate communications, said the company also had business-to-business advertisers--including marketers in the travel, financial, and real estate categories.

YouSendIt also intends to offer users two different paid subscription models, and will continue to allow users to use a totally free, non-adware-supported, version that allows users to send large e-mails to up to 25 recipients.

180solutions first approached YouSendIt about a bundling deal in October, largely due to the positive buzz surrounding YouSendIt. "It was pretty clear that YouSendIt definitely had at least a cult following, if not a pretty broad following," said Sundwall, adding that the deal "provides further validation that our time-shifted ad-supported content model is working and is here to stay."