by Tatiana Repkova

Roularta Media Group (Knack, Le Vif, Trends-Tendences ) and the ROSSEL Group (vlan, Le Soir ) have announced that they will partner to create a national, bilingual classified ads Web site, vlan.be, beginning May 12. The Dutch language classified ads site, easy.be, will be part of this new site.

The primary intention of this cooperation is to grow vlan.be into the leading force on the Internet classified ads market, in the same way as the two press groups lead the Belgian market for paper publications. Together the two sites host over 60,000 visitors every day. The idea is for this number to rise quickly so that everyone in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia can "vlan" and rapidly find their dream home, car, job and more. Both sites have recently seen visitor numbers grow by up to 30 percent.

Vlan.be will be a classified ads site, as well as use Internet technologies (RSS feed) to offer information derived from the two press groups' Internet sites. The groups hope to generate traffic between the sites and further build on their content. The press groups have also put together a specialist team with internal market know-howas well as knowledge of the Belgian market in particular.

Vlan.be has more than 65,000 property ads with photos in Belgium. A portion of these ads can also be found by region in the two press groups' paper editions (De Streekkrant, De Zondag, Vlan, 7 Dimanche). A search engine directs users to real estate offered by real estate brokers, notaries and private individuals. The site also has more than 18,000 ads for new and second-hand cars. In cooperation with the Flemish government employment office VDAB, Vlan.be will also carry over 50,000 job vacancies in Belgium. http://www.publicitas.com/display.asp?id=6.8&chp=6.3&foot=6.9&cpny=*&PAR... May 14, 2007