News Corp. enters online classifieds from MySpace
According to a report by Peter Zollman of Classified Intelligence Report (a paid newspaper industry newsletter), MySpace is moving aggressively into classified advertising. They have already introduced a Classifieds link on the main navigation bar, and classifieds categories for several cities including Melbourne and Sydney. This move by News Corp, owners of MySpace, considerably extends the social networking site into a classified advertising engine. While classifieds are free, there is a revenue stream being chased here. It’s a clever move by News.
Connect MySpace with TrueLocal, Realestate.com.au and the various other News online offerings here in Australia and overseas and you have a powerful business model.
This is a race. In Australia it is between News, Fairfax, PBL and Telstra. While many expected the Internet to lower the barriers to entry for many start-ups, acquisitions and strategic moves by the big four media companies have protected their offline brand investments in the online world.