Just before lunch at ILM Asia, Sidharth Gupta, CEO of Getit Infoservices, shared his company’s vision of the future. It was comprehensive and holistic. In his talk, Gupta spoke of the evolution that is occurring around the world and in…
My colleague Charles Laughlin kicked off ILM Asia -- a conference organized by BIA/Kelsey and the Asian Directory Publisher Association (ADPAI) -- with the results of a survey of business leaders operating in the local search space in Asia. Among…
I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure my glasses are working anymore. Every morning, I find myself cleaning my glasses as I skim the huge number of news bites about local commerce and media. The nicely drawn lines…
You know the saying: “Pretty soon, we’re talking about real money.” So how big is the deals space? Groupon COO Margo Georgiadis suggests it’s after the $150B local ad market. Mark Fratrik, BIA/Kelsey’s own economist, forecast the U.S. deal space…
A couple of weeks ago at the Social Loco event held at Mission Bay Conference Center (same place we’ll be holding our Deals 3D July 18 and 19), I met up with longtime industry innovator Justin Sanger. No doubt you…
As I prepare to head off to the “last” Yellow Pages Association conference, I am struck by the incredible transformation the Yellow Pages industry is navigating. The first Yellow Pages industry convention I ever attended was well before anyone had ever…
Today at ILM East, Gail Goodman CEO of Constant Contact kicked off Day 2 with a provocative and as she said "controversial" call for local players to collaborate in helping SMBs fully participate in local social marketing by finding an…
Today on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall gathered an assortment of directory industry advocates. With a proposed opt-in ordinance on the city supervisors agenda, industry advocates gathered to mount a vocal effort to bring logic to the forefront. While…
Today I am excited to announce that BIA/Kelsey has greatly enhanced its focus on social media to include dedicated coverage on our Local Media Watch blog and a new Continuous Advisory Service called Social Local Media. BIA/Kelsey Analyst Jed Williams…
Last night, Local Insight Media's parent company filed for Chapter 11 protection. In speaking with President and CEO Scott Pomeroy early this morning, it became clear that this is a necessary step in ensuring the business can recapitalize its debt…
Last week I spoke at the annual gathering of the International Classifieds Media Association (ICMA) in Vienna, Austria. My colleague Peter Krasilovsky and I have had the pleasure of attending and speaking at this function in past years. What I…
SeniorChecked.com, a Washington D.C.-area start-up targeting the $3 trillion elder-care market officially launched today. The company is working to develop SeniorChecked into a national symbol for seniors and their families to find trusted local service providers that are screened through…
YPG in Canada took yet another step outside its core Yellow Pages business this week with the acquisition of CanadianDriver.com, which will complement its Trader Corp. auto classifieds unit. CanadianDriver.com, which is dubbed "Canada's online auto magazine," is an 11-year-old…
YPG in Canada took yet another step outside its core Yellow Pages business this week with the acquisition of CanadianDriver.com, which will complement its Trader Corp. auto classifieds unit. CanadianDriver.com, which is dubbed "Canada's online auto magazine," is an 11-year-old…
Some speculation (and new details) about Apple’s pending and well-expected reboot of Apple TV found its way last week into The New York Times just before the holiday break. My guess is that the new and obvious name will be…
We’ve seen a marked increase in the number of inquiries we’ve been getting from clients regarding the use and implementation of call measurement platforms. We have long believed that the “call” is a critical element of any local search model…
I found myself in a funny place on Saturday morning. I was lined up at 8:10 a.m. to purchase a new iPad. Funny, because in a million years neither I nor my colleagues or family would have expected me to…
A couple of stories caught my attention today. First, Reach Media Group (RMG), a digital out-of-home company that we’ve previously written about, signed a deal to push New York Times content to its network of 800 coffee shops, cafes and…
Today, BIA/Kelsey released its 2009-2014 U.S. local advertising forecast. Over the past two months, lead analysts Charles Laughlin, Matt Booth, Mike Boland, Peter Krasilovsky, Rick Ducey and Mark Fratrik have grinded through the process of forecasting local ad revenues. This…
Yesterday at DMS, Truvo CEO Donat Rétif took direct aim at tradition by describing a brave new directory world. Rétif, whose themes were generally aligned with those of many of the speakers at DMS ’09, made a compelling case that…