Oodle Facebook Deal Finally Inked
The Oodle/Facebook deal we heard rumblings about earlier in the year, has finally come to fruition. Although the exact date has not been released, we know that Oodle will be taking over Facebook’s Marketplace sometime in Q1’ 2009.
We first heard, back in May, that the two were talking about finding ways to make it easier for sellers to syndicate their content between Facebook and Oodle – so this weeks formal announcement has been a long time coming.
Facebook first introduced their Marketplace platform in 2007, seeing classifieds as an area of great opportunity for their communal social network. Now they are looking to take their original concept to the next level. “Turning the development and management of Marketplace over to an innovator in online classifieds will give users more advanced ways to create and share listings on Facebook,” said Ethan Beard, director of business development at Facebook. “We’re excited by the potential of the Oodle powered Marketplace application to offer an engaging classifieds experience on Facebook.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the details on the financials and revenue models, both sides seem to be keeping that information under wraps. I assume, however that a large part of the upswing for Oodle will come from the increased traffic, ad syndication with Facebook will bring. This will undoubtedly allow them to garner more dollars for the commercial online display ads and sponsored listings – but as for the rest….
In addition to Facebook, Oodle also has a classified relationship with Prudential Real Estate, Wal Mart, Military.com, the New York Post and in the UK, Yell.com, just to name a few.
