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AdStar Continues Deployment of Next-Generation Web-based Ad Sales Solution

Wednesday 30. January 2008 - The Star-Ledger, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch go live with AdStar's self-service e-commerce solution

AdStar, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADST), a leading provider of e-commerce transaction software and services for the advertising and publishing industries, today announced that it has completed successful installations of its next-generation Web-based Ad Sales solution at The Star-Ledger, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. AdStar’s technology automates the ad development and placement process, thereby allowing advertisers to create print and online advertisements specifically for vertical classified ad markets, including merchandise, automotive, recruitment and real estate.

AdStar’s technology now powers the online auto, real estate and recruitment classified advertising channels at Philly.com. The recruitment ad channel is also integrated with Monster.com, Philly.com’s partner for job postings. The online edition of The Star Ledger, recently launched its AdStar-powered real estate advertising channel and will be installing AdStar’s technology for auto, recruitment and general merchandise advertisements. AdStar has also completed the installation for recruitment advertisements at STLtoday.com, the online version of the Post-Dispatch, and is in the process of installing its technology for the newspaper’s auto, real estate and general merchandise advertising channels.

“Each newspaper has unique requirements, and the flexibility of our solution allows us to work effectively with all of them,” said Leslie Bernhard, president and chief executive officer of AdStar, Inc. “Our Next Generation Web-based Ad Sales is a turn-key solution that meets the needs of both publishers and advertisers. The Star-Ledger, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and St. Louis Post-Dispatch will be able to leverage the power of their brands, localized audiences, and the reach and convenience of the Web to create a number of new revenue-generating opportunities, while advertisers will have more control over their ad campaigns, from creation to output.”

Traditionally, advertisers have created and scheduled a single ad to run in both the print and online version of a newspaper. With AdStar’s new technology, advertisers can create a distinct ad for print and a unique version for online publication, schedule the ads individually, and select from a number of enhancements, including photos, e-commerce-enabling options, preferential listings and Web identifiers — all through a single Web-based application. AdStar captures the ad information in such a way that it can also be repurposed for a variety of publishing channels and opportunities.

AdStar’s Web-based Ad Sales technology has been built to provide advertisers with directory tools that allow them to edit current online ad content, schedule ads for additional days, track changes made to an ad once it is purchased, cancel online ads and notify publishers of ad cancellations. Publishers can use AdStar’s administrative tools to review ads before they are sent to the publishing systems; approve, reject or edit online ad content; and cancel or extend online ads. Publishers can also use AdStar’s technology to apply promotional discounts, accept free ads and offer a number of “up-sell” features that will further integrate their print and online advertising initiatives.