• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 6, 2009

Cox Cross Media, the digital sales arm of Cox Enterprises, on Monday announced a marketing partnership with the ABC-owned Television Stations Group.

Per the deal, CXM will handle online sales for the Web sites of ABC's 10 owned-and-operated local stations.

"We'll be particularly focused on the whole multi-platform deal, which is really starting to take shape among agencies," said Steve Shaw, SVP at CXM.

Based in New York City, CXM is presently installing desktop databases at agencies, which offer access to inventory options by geography. The application will eventually reside on the Web.

In addition, CXM and ABC have agreed to promote each other's online brand, said Shaw.

"People are trying to make their local dollars go as far as they can, today, and this will allow both of us to expose our audiences to new markets," Shaw said.

Since its launch in late 2007, CXM has joined the growing number of companies attempting to create a national spot market across local Web sites.

Cox Cross Media's technology attempts to bridge online, television and mobile buying. Options extend beyond banner ads to include a range of interactive display, video and integration formats.

The unit has grown from selling online media advertising for the Web sites of the 300 TV stations represented by Cox's three national sales rep firms to now representing over 700 local media sites.

In addition to representing the ABC-owned TV stations, their Web sites and the ABC SuperSign in Times Square, ABC National Television Sales provides TV advertising and marketing services for various properties outside the ABC fold, including out-of-home venues such as gas stations, taxicabs and grocery stores, as well as regional sports networks and major sports franchises.

ABC Owned Television Stations Group's ten local Web sites are WABC-TV New York, KABC-TV Los Angeles, WLS-TV Chicago, WPVI-TV Philadelphia, KGO-TV San Francisco, KTRK-TV Houston, WTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham, N.C., KFSN-TV Fresno, Calif., WJRT-TV Flint, Mich., and WTVG-TV Toledo, Ohio.