Cars.com Continues National Marketing Blitz With Its Largest Ever Television Buy

Premier Networks, Top-Rated Programming and High Impact Sponsorships to Reach Car Shoppers Throughout Key Buying Season

CHICAGO, March 14 -- Cars.com, the fastest growing online automotive marketplace, today announced its largest ever-national advertising buy. The site's award-winning advertising will go on air today and run through October on leading cable networks, reaching more than 178 million viewers. The campaign, featuring cars.com's "Find the right car for you" message, is backed by increased promotion across cars.com's network of 200 local newspaper and television partners as well as an aggressive online marketing initiative.

"With our largest national television campaign and our continued strength in local promotion we continue to drive ready-to-buy shoppers to our advertisers," said Mitch Golub, president of cars.com. "We know that our advertising is working in concert with our consumer site to effectively build our brand and make cars.com the destination more consumers choose when they are in market to research, buy and sell a car."

As part of its 2005 buy, cars.com will have a dominant media presence on leading sports programs, including sponsorship of ESPN's "SportsCenter," the number one sports information show. In addition to features like 'Top-Ten' and 'Call of the Day,' cars.com will also sponsor the upcoming NFL Draft, scheduled to air April 23 on ESPN. For the first time, cars.com will also advertise in live sporting events, with spots scheduled to air during Major League Baseball, NBA and PGA Golf.

In addition to a targeted audience of sports viewers and its anchor package on ESPN, the cars.com ad buy reaches a broad audience through top rated programming and high impact sponsorships on some of the highest rated and fastest growing cable networks, including Discovery, Food Network, TBS, TLC, TNT, USA and WGN. Spots are scheduled to run on syndicated favorites such as "Seinfeld," "Sex and the City," and "Law & Order: SVU," and on original programming hits like "Trading Spaces," "American Chopper," "Monk," and "Emeril Live." Popular automotive programs "Overhaulin'" and "Rides" are also part of the mix. Cars.com is extending its presence and differentiating its message through a variety of unique sponsorships on every network, including automotive tips on TLC programming, as well as features on TBS's "Dinner and a Movie" and USA's "Big Movie Sunday."

Beyond advertising on top cable networks, cars.com reaches consumers through a unique combination of local promotion. The site leverages its partnerships with more than 200 leading newspapers, television stations and their Web sites, including Los Angeles Times, The Arizona Republic, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In addition to thousands of print ads in their publications, the network continually promotes cars.com in their local markets through extensive campaigns using a combination of online advertising, local television spots, outdoor billboards and radio.

"Our strong local presence is what sets cars.com apart," said Golub. "With the ramped up marketing power of 200 media leaders behind us, we can help our advertisers reach quality shoppers in their local market when they are really ready to buy."

About cars.com

Partnered with more than 200 leading metro newspapers, television stations and their Web sites, cars.com is the most comprehensive destination for those looking to buy or sell a new or used car. The site places more than 1.4 million vehicle listings from 10,000 dealer customers, classified advertisers and private-party listings to offer consumers the best selection of new and used cars online, as well as the content, tools and advice to support their shopping experience. Cars.com combines powerful inventory search tools and new-car configuration with pricing information, photo galleries, buying guides, side-by-side comparison tools, original editorial content and reviews to help millions of consumers connect with sellers each month.

Launched in June 1998, cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, ( http://classifiedventures.com/ ), which is owned by six leading media companies including, Belo , Gannett Co., Inc. , Knight Ridder , The McClatchy Company , Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company. .