Transforming ad sales from legacy media to digital aint easy. This can be seen in the relatively low success rate among media companies that sell both (i.e. newspaper). Meanwhile the debate rages on: separate or combine digital and traditional ad sales…
Nielsen's latest Watch Report on the media touch points of digital shoppers found live TV, specifically local news and broadcast, continues to be an effective medium to reach digital auto shoppers. According to Nielsen, consumers' decisions like shopping for a…
Virtual reality is assumed to be a gaming technology and most people expect it to be proven first with game enthusiasts. But the real economic opportunity for VR lies in the enterprise and local engagement with customers, who will be…
The Brand-to-local playbook is constantly changing in a multi-screen and millennial-impacted world. This was one of the underlying themes at the recent BIA/Kelsey BRANDS. But what about the "monday morning" action items to begin to implement right away? Consumer data collection,…
In our Local Commerce Monitor (LCM) Wave 19 survey of small businesses, when we look at small businesses who use direct mail, almost 60% pay a third party to manage their digital advertising. 30% of these small businesses say they…
Sinclair Broadcast Group and USIM successfully completed an initiative to compete for network television ad dollars in favor of more effective spending in local television. The initiative comprised a three market buy comparing measurement services and methodologies to help evaluate campaign impact relative…
Most display ads on desktop and mobile are now bought programmatically. And the practice is extending into other ad mediums like local television. With this backdrop, BIA/Kelsey ran a workshop at the recent Programmatic I/O and the session video is available. As BIA/Kelsey managing director…
John Allan was brought on to reform the Australian directory company Sensis into a business that could survive in a future that demands nimbleness and efficiency across the enterprise but particularly in the sales organization. Directory sales organizations were always seen as a great asset. Countless solutions providers…
As discussed at December's BIA/Kelsey NEXT, millennials are what's really next. Suddenly, they* fully occupy the coveted and buying-empowered 18-34 demographic. This makes their behavior and proclivities a core design principle for marketers everywhere. But with this generation's rise has come…
Jeff Biesman knows it sounds cliche, but local companies still don't do it: "Have the local business owner's interests at heart." As VP of Customer Marketing and Acquisition at YP, he has perhaps more perspective than anyone in local about selling…
Google was the top biller in Boston in 2015, according to BIA/Kelsey’s new Local Competition Report on the Boston television market, with nearly $238 million in local advertising revenue* - more than double its nearest competitor, Hearst Television, in 2nd place…
Last week's AdExchanger's Programmatic I/O conference drew an unexpectedly large audience of about 900 publishers, brands, agencies, adtech and other industry executives to focus on all things programmatic. Programmatic's main innovations are data-driven advertising and automated workflow in public and private exchanges…
The Brand-to-local playbook is constantly changing in a multi-screen and millennial-impacted world. This was one of the underlying themes at the recent BIA/Kelsey BRANDS. But making this perennial challenge more complex is the need to establish or track down brand advertising…
Size matters, when it comes to small- and medium-sized businesses, according to BIA/Kelsey's Local Commerce Monitor™ (LCM) survey of SMBs. While the vast majority of SMBs surveyed prefer a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) model for digital advertising, there's a remarkable difference in preferences between…
One important trend we've followed closely is the compression of local search. Instead of search queries, results pages, links, listings and reviews, we're seeing an end-run directly to the action. Driven by macro-factors like smartphones, immediacy-oriented millennials, and the on-demand movement,…
BIA/Kelsey's ENGAGE conference next month in Austin, Texas, is about innovating and executing in the local and SMB digital marketplace. The local and SMB space isn't just about creating tools, it's also about building audiences in order to drive engagement, leads and transactions.…
Even as messaging apps and chat bots take over the world, people still have a biological urge to communicate by voice. This applies to commerce, especially where there is complexity. And complexity tends to happen in high-consideration, high-value products like…
Abid Chaudhry and I discuss the fall of Shuddle, the Bay Area-based "Uber for kids" startup that closed its doors today after raising $12.2 million. What does this suggest for high-value vertical on-demand services? Can they differentiate enough to separate…
Conversational commerce is suddenly the hottest topic in tech. It combines popular messaging apps with emerging AI to make for a sexy topic that everyone is eating up. But despite the hype cycle, we believe it has real legs for local commerce.…
The Brand-to-local playbook is constantly changing in a multi-screen and millennial-impacted world. This was one of the takeaways from a morning panel at the recent BIA/Kelsey BRANDS. To crack this code -- borrowing from the session's title -- some brands opt for…
