UK and Scandinavian Publishers Form Class Ad Group

Several UK and Scandinavian publishers have allied to set standards for European online classified ads in regional newspapers. Called FinnTech, the alliance includes Schibsted of Norway and the UK publishing groups Associated New Media, Guardian Media, Newsquest Media, Northcliffe Newspapers, and Trinity Mirror. Together these groups have a print circulation of more than 9 million daily. According to Online Publishing News in London, the alliances’s technology is already being used at sites in the UK, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway. FinnTech builds atop the Adexalliance alliance in 2001 of online classified services owned by regional newspaper groups in Belgium, Finland, Norway, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK.