RefreshClassifieds

Tribune Co reported their revenue Friday and their classified revenue has fallen by 18.2%.  In the classified advertising Real Estates declined by 24%, Employment ads by 19% and Autmotive by 14%. The companies publications include the Chicago Tribune and Los Angelos Times.

Looking at the companies online sites it would appear that little of their own online classified offering.   For example the Chicago Tribune site has the following online classified partnerships:

• Homescape.com for Real Estate
• CareerBuilder.com for Employment
• Cars.com for Automotive
• Eharmony for Dating
• Gadzoo.com for Pets

With all these partnerships the Chicago Tribune is left with little online experience for classified users.  The site further complicates the experience between each vertical so users don’t have any association between looking for a car, and then returning to look for a home.

The only experience the Chicago Tribune really control is their print publications and the value of this going forward might be limited.  It looks like companies like the Tribune have dug their own holes while creating quick partnerships with online sites and not developing their own online experience or loyalty.

On June 1st Quebecor Media launched its ClassifiedExtra.ca site, reported “Canada’s Biggest and power Classified Network”. Around Toronto you can see ClassifiedExtra.ca being promoted on the 24 hrs street boxes and in the back of the 24 hours newspaper. It would appear that Quebecor forgot to register ClassifiedsExtra.ca ( pural ) though and it redirects to WeHire.ca a site not run by Quebecor Media. A good lesson in picking a domain and registering the not just the domain but different variations.

And yes, we have registered RefreshClassified.com too.