CHICAGO, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Cars.com announced today that it will accelerate its marketing efforts in the final weeks of the year with a series of halftime show sponsorships and commercials that will air on NFL and college bowl games in addition to high-profile sports news programming. As previously announced, the company will kick off its 2010 advertising campaign on Feb. 7 with a 60-second commercial at Super Bowl XLIV on CBS. "With the economy recovering and consumer confidence growing, car buyers are increasingly returning to market. In fact, through the end of November, we've seen leads rise 9 percent above the same period last year," said Mitch Golub, president of Cars.com. "Now is a great time to up our investment in our brand and our advertisers." The Cars.com advertising blitz includes halftime sponsorship of 10 college bowl games on ESPN and several 30-second spots on ESPN's Monday Night Football, ESPN's SportsCenter, regional NFL games on CBS and NBC and college bowl games on CBS. It kicks off this Saturday with the company's sponsorship of the New Mexico and St. Petersburg bowls. "Our fall campaign including the sponsorship of ESPN College Football and high-impact online sponsorships has been very effective at reaching in-market car shoppers and driving them to our site," Golub said. "We are excited to build on that momentum with a great line-up of sponsorships to close out the year. We want car shoppers to know they can count on Cars.com for comprehensive, objective information about what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car." About Cars.com Cars.com is the leading destination for online car shoppers, offering credible, easy-to-understand information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car. With comprehensive pricing information, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and a large selection of new- and used-car inventory, Cars.com puts millions of car buyers in control of their shopping process with the information they need to make confident buying decisions. Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, which is owned by leading media companies, including Belo (NYSE:BLC), Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO). DATASOURCE: Cars.com CONTACT: Brian R. Hannan, Trade Communications Manager of Cars.com, +1-312-601-5519, Mobile, +1-312-218-0788, Web Site: http://www.cars.com/

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