The online classifieds ad networks of newspapers did well in the first quarter, led by Cars.com, which had a record-high 9 million unique visitors and 15 million total visits in March - a 17 percent increase in visits over February, writes MediaPost.

Cars.com launched a $110 million-plus ad campaign in February to drive traffic to the new features and build brand awareness.

Job-recruitment classifieds networks are also undergoing an upswing. From December to January, CareerBuilder's unique visitors increased from 10 million to 12 million, Monster's from 11 million to 14 million, and Yahoo HotJobs' jumped from 6 to 10 million. Combined, that's an increase of 9 million unique visitors, or 33 percent growth.

Newspapers' survival is dependent on affiliating with networks and forming an online classifieds presence by creating one or allying with one, according to a 2006 Deutsche Bank study.