DoubleClick Inc., a digital marketing solutions company, announced November 1st that AutoTrader.com, the Internet's largest automotive marketplace, has joined its media network to leverage DoubleClick's strong relationships with automotive manufacturers.

Under the terms of the agreement, AutoTrader.com will join the DoubleClick Media Network and receive exclusive advertising and sponsorship sales representation, targeting automotive manufacturers and their ad agencies. DoubleClick will have the exclusive rights to sell advertising across AutoTrader.com's New Car Marketplace and anywhere on the site for automotive manufacturers. DoubleClick will also be able to sell innovative business development initiatives and partnerships to the automotive manufacturers, including AutoTrader.com's certified or new vehicle programs, in order to expand vehicle listings on AutoTrader.com.

In a separate deal, DoubleClick also announced that AutoTrader.com will license its AdServer Solution- a suite of integrated tools for planning, serving, targeting, reporting and real-time optimization of marketing campaigns, in an easy-to-use interface. Following an extensive review of ad serving options, AutoTrader.com chose AdServer primarily due to its superior engineering architecture, bolstered by DoubleClick's technical support.

"Everyone knows that the auto industry represents the largest advertising category in the traditional media, and due to the huge movement of car shoppers to the Internet over the past several years, all the auto manufacturers are looking for ways to use leading third-party Web sites to further their marketing objectives," said Chip Perry, president and CEO of AutoTrader.com. "AutoTrader.com is at an important point- moving quickly toward achieveing profitability in an industry that has undergone considerable consolidation, so we decided to partner with DoubleClick because they have the deep customer relationships, outstanding selling skills, and extensive technical infrastructure support that we need to significantly grow our business with the auto manufacturers."

AutoTrader.com, coupled with our existing automotive partnerships, allows marketers to access the largest, most qualified audience of shoppers in the market for a car," said Jeffrey Silverman, vice president and general manager U.S. Media, DoubleClick. "According to independent research, the automotive sector is the fourth largest online shopping category and more than half of shoppers who purchase a car offline at a dealership, conduct preliminary research online."

Currently, AutoTrader.com receives more than 5 million unique monthly visitors, conducting more than 28 million used and new vehicle searches. AutoTrader.com already has partnerships with top manufacturers including Ford, GM, Toyota, Lexus, Honda and Audi, to offer new, used and certified vehicles on the site. This partnership with DoubleClick will compliment AutoTrader.com's existing sales force to reach out to these manufacturers, along with a broader range of marketers interested in targeting the largest automotive audience online.