An otherwise obscure article caught my eye this afternoon. The Wall Street Journal reported that “Paranormal Activity,” a small independent movie made on the microscopic budget of $15,000, is experiencing roaring success commercially ($7 million gross last weekend) due to…
Newspapers have often had lobby stores selling T-shirts and other items. They’ve also long experimented with online stores. Reprints of the presidential election results sold especially well last November. Last year, The Philadelphia Inquirer launched an especially aggressive store that…
The Nordics directory publisher Eniro last week announced a reorganization to a "more rational corporate structure." The new plan divides the business into three functions that cut across all the company's national operating units -- Products and Services, Operations and…
This coming Wednesday, BIA/Kelsey will host a free webinar about reputation management and how it's becoming a growing area of local online ad spend. It will feature commentary from BIA/Kelsey's Matt Booth as well as executives of Marchex and SMBLive.…
Geotargeting is one of several criteria that advertisers base their buys on. But as the technology has become more accurate, it has become increasingly standard. According to a study of the online display ads in four cities by comScore, roughly…
A few notable items are emerging from this week's CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment conference. I personally didn't attend because of the focus on infrastructure, entertainment and enterprise (fleet management, medical, etc.). But there is some overlap with mobile…
Angie’s List, the Indianapolis-based premium services directory that charges members to access and participate in reviews of local service businesses, said it has crossed the 1 million member mark. The threshold has been reached after a major ad campaign on…
Just posted on Yellowbook's Facebook page is an announcement that allows Yellowbook users to sign in to their Yellowbook page with their Facebook login. Additionally, the new feature allows users to sync their ratings and reviews to their Facebook page.…
Following up on the previous post, here are a few notable tidbits from the conference call that followed the Google/Verizon announcement. -- The Android market will be pre-loaded on a number of Verizon devices. -- These devices will be announced…
European Directories SA, a London-based directories holding company, has named Joris van Oers CEO of DeTelefoongids Holding BV, EDSA's flagship Dutch operation. Van Oers takes over from EDSA CEO Cornell Riklin, who has been interim head of DTG since April,…
Lots of talk today over the announced deal between Google and Verizon Wireless. For those unfamiliar, the loosely defined deal involves Verizon officially embracing the Android operating system to power the mobile devices that run on its network. Cutting through…
Yell has announced that its iPhone app is available for download in Apple's App Store. It has been available previously but it's now official. The app itself will allow users to search the 2 million local business listings on Yell.com…
MyBallard.com, one of five adjacent neighborhood sites in Seattle that make up Next Door Media, has won the Online Journalism Award for community collaboration. The OJAs are designed to promote the next generation of journalism. They have been run since…
Back in April, we broke a story about Skype's developing business model to drive calls to SMBs. Working with directory publishers as channel partners, it would extend its longstanding subscription-based model to now also include ad support. Ad units would…
Here is a recap of posts from last week, in case you missed any. Click below to read each post in full. NPR Gets $3 Million for Local Initiative NPR will work with a pilot group of a dozen NPR stations…
NPR will work with a pilot group of a dozen NPR stations to create multimedia local news that will work online and on radio, thanks to new grants from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting ($2 million) and $1 million from…
Here are some interesting directory and small-business advertising related items I've plucked from recent news alerts. For a bit of insight on how small businesses in a meat and potatoes category (Tire Dealers) view the evolution of their ad spend,…
A spoof is circulating around the Web that Local.com has been sold to Microsoft for $200 million -- a significant markup from the public company’s current valuation at $60 million. The spoof suggested that the valuation was based on Local.com’s…
The ink hadn't dried yet on our Yext post, when the company announced $25 million in venture funding today. The round was led by Institutional Venture partners. More details to follow.