AdStar to Provide Web-Based Classified Ad Transaction Services

    MARINA DEL REY, Calif.--Nov. 21, 2002--AdStar , a leading application service provider for the classified advertising industry, today announced it has signed a contract with the Detroit Newspaper Agency to provide Web-based classified advertising sales functionality for the agency's two newspapers, The Detroit News (www.detnews.com) and Detroit Free Press (www.freep.com).
    The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press make up the ninth largest newspaper in the country, and together, have a combined Sunday readership of 1.7 million and daily readership of more than 1.1 million. As a result of the agreement, AdStar will integrate its ad transaction technology into the Detroit newspapers' Web sites, enabling advertisers to create, schedule and pay for ads online for distribution in both print and online versions of the newspapers.
    "With the addition of The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, we are now contracted to provide ad transaction services for 12 of the 20 largest newspapers in the country," said Leslie Bernhard, president and chief executive officer of AdStar. "AdStar is continuing to expand its reach into the publishing industry with more publishers recognizing our technology's unique ability to drive ad sales. We've developed a powerful application that integrates seamlessly into newspapers' web sites while making the ad placement process as easy as only a few clicks of the mouse. We are anxious to see it work with our Detroit newspaper partners and their advertisers."
    AdStar charges publishers a fixed monthly hosting fee combined with a variable per ad fee for its ASP service. The company's ASP pricing model is intended to accommodate all sizes of newspapers. AdStar powers online ad transaction services for many of the top newspapers in the country, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times and Newsday.

    About AdStar, Inc.

    AdStar , based in Marina del Rey, Calif., is the leading application service provider (ASP) for the more than $20 billion classified advertising industry. AdStar turns publishers' Web sites into full-service classified ad sales channels for their print and online classified ad sections. Since 1986, AdStar has set the standard for remote ad entry software by giving advertisers the ability to place ads electronically with many of the largest newspapers in the United States. Today, AdStar's infrastructure, through its private label model, powers classified ad sales for many of the largest newspapers in the United States and the Newspaper Association of America's bonafideclassifieds.com, where ads can be placed in more than 120 newspapers.

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