Has anyone heard about the new online franchises and how well they are doing. Apparently a franchisee purchases a territory which includes a state or major city and markets the online presence ie bartering, info about the city etc.

Yes I have seen city franchises where they try to brand the domain name and then each franchise controls a city where they post local events and news are are responsible for promoting it. I just think that many of these types of sites are already in a saturated market.

I think it makes a lot of sense you can spread the marketing costs accross several franchises and appear more professional than a stand alone effort - particularly when the products or services are very local.