Marchex today launched Marchex Adhere™, a new pay-per-click advertising channel that provides advertisers and agencies with exclusive placement on hundreds of premium publisher Web sites and on Marchex’s OpenList® network.

Marchex is also adding several new premium publishers and locally focused Web sites to Marchex Adhere.

According to the press release:

Marchex Adhere allows advertisers of any size and budget to reach a unique, highly-qualified audience at scale:

• It enables national advertisers to efficiently fulfill their online budget in the same manner as they purchase offline advertising; namely national, spot and local in a single media buy.

• It provides small and medium sized businesses the opportunity to reach local customers directly through Marchex’s OpenList and reach national customers through premium, vertically focused publishers.

“Local advertising isn’t just for small businesses,” said Pete Christothoulou, Marchex Chief Strategy Officer. “National advertisers are responsible for more than two-thirds of the $100 billion in local ad spending. With the increasing fragmentation in the local market, it is nearly impossible for national advertisers to take full advantage of the tremendous local opportunity and find enough quality traffic at scale to fulfill their campaign needs. Marchex Adhere provides a single source for advertisers and agencies to reach exclusive national, vertical and local traffic.”

“Many of our clients are increasingly looking to build their brand awareness on a national level while leveraging that brand to drive transactions at the local level,” said Michael Lee, Director, Strategic Partnerships, DoubleClick Performics. “The ability to target premium publisher Web sites as well as vertical and local search sites in one source enables us to deliver additional quality traffic, at volume, to our clients in a very cost-effective manner.”

Marchex is one of the biggest players in local search and advertising. Currently, more than 65,000 national and local advertisers use Marchex’s advertising products and services to reach consumers online, including the more than 30 million people monthly who visit Marchex’s OpenList² network to make more informed local buying decisions.

Marchex Adhere allows advertisers and agencies to select site-specific or category-based placements on more than 200 premium publisher Web sites including BusinessWeek Online, Bankrate.com and Kiplinger.com, as well as keyword-targeted placements on top search, vertical and local Web sites, including Marchex’s OpenList.

In conjunction with today’s launch, Marchex is adding several new premium publisher and local Web sites to Marchex Adhere through new and expanded distribution partnerships, including:

• IDG – Publishers of PC World, CIO Magazine and Macworld

• Ziff Davis Enterprise – Publishers of eWeek, CIO|Insight and Publish

• Banks.com – Timely advice and first-class tools for building personal wealth – covering banking, loans, investing, insurance, taxes, real estate and autos (also a part of our Domain Stock Parking Index)

• RealtyTrac – the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value

• AmericanTowns.com – a national network of community-based websites where people can find & share the best local information for every town in America

• YourStreet.com – Indexes and maps thousands of articles, blogs, and conversations down to the street level

• Lat49 – an online ad network providing local and brand advertisers with delivery of geo-targeted and contextual ads across a network of online maps

• HelloMetro – city level information on local history, attractions, real estate, jobs, Yellow Pages, White Pages and local resources

“Marchex’s relationships with top-tier publishers combined with our own local traffic and high level of client service helps advertisers and agencies obtain both a national presence and local impact online,” added Christothoulou. “According to recent data, local searches are growing more than three times faster than other searches and 86% of search engine users search locally for products and services.

Marchex’s stock has done very well the last couple of months moving from the $8 range to over $13 last week.  The stock was down with the rest of the market on Friday, but up in after hours trading.