The phone is quickly advancing as a means of pushing out ad-sponsored content that mimics some of the popular mobile advertising features. Greg Webster of VoodooVox, at ILM:08, debuted some of the new features of the company's In-Call Media group, demonstrating…
IAC Vice President Kara Nortman, speaking at Interactive Local Media 2008, provided both a dose of reality and a glimmer of hope about where media companies in the local marketplace are headed. Nortman’s view of what is working well included sites…
AT&T Advertising Solutions has announced a partnership with Hispanic publisher Seccion Amarilla to sell Hispanic advertising into select Seccion Amarilla directories. "AT&T is always focused on enhancing our directories to best serve our business and residential customers in the diverse…
Marchex, during its 3Q earnings call today, reaffirmed its focus on providing ad solutions for the local and vertical search space, noting that it currently works with 80,000 local advertisers via 110 local partner relationships, including AT&T and Idearc. The…
Spot Runner announced that it is laying off 115 people, or less than 30 percent of its staff. It confirmed that a big chunk of the layoffs are coming from its local sales division, formerly known as Weblistic. Company officials say…
Press releases are rich in content -- richer than most ads. Many local events, businesses and services routinely write them. But they often don’t get past the “about us” sections on their own Web sites. The releases aren’t easily found,…
We’re just about ready to go with Interactive Local Media 2008, which is Nov. 19-21 in Santa Clara, in the heart of Silicon Valley. It should be a very important, game-defining event -- and the first one for The Kelsey…
The news hit the wires this week that Autobytel, one of the original third party auto sites, had hired RBC Capital Markets to explore its options, and was laying off 75 of its 225 workers. This was on top of…
With the real estate market in an indefinite doldrums, Zillow is transforming itself from an information provider about home sales to a full-service provider of information for home owners. The ad-supported service announced today that it is launching a Professional…
Zvents, which is seeking to transform the events category to a broader “what, when and where” category that encompasses local entertainment, organizations and businesses, has announced $24 million in new funding from AT&T (i.e., wireless and Yellow Pages), Nokia Growth…
Fox Interactive Media’s MySpace is seeking to jump-start local and small-business advertising by launching a homegrown Self-Serve Ad Service. Initial advertisers are likely to be rock bands -- the first major segment to have adopted MySpace itself -- but the…
OK, we’ve got the format(s) and “best and brightest” speaker roster set for Interactive Local Media: Extending Local Channels, which is Nov. 19-21 in Santa Clara, California, next to San Jose. At the top of the list is Angie Hicks,…
Placing and managing national ads on different Internet Yellow Pages sites in different regions has been too difficult. It is one reason why more national advertising probably hasn’t flowed to local sites. But now Superpages.com, DexKnows.com and several other sites…
Hispanic Yellow Pages of America has ceased operations, according to a notice distributed on Monday via ELINC, a Yellow Pages Association’s electronic newsletter providing updates on the directory industry to the CMR community. Chicago-based HYPA had grown primarily through acquisitions…
Comcast, the nation’s largest cable TV company, is set to upsell its vast body of video advertisers via a new deal with Mixpo, the Seattle-based venture-backed company dedicated to making video "actionable" across multiple platforms. For Mixpo, the deal represents…
The “Deconstructing Internet Yellow Pages” panel at DMS ’08 revealed a number of areas in which IYPs need to evolve. Based on Kelsey’s IYP research, conference chair and TKG Program Director Charles Laughlin said, “IYPs appear too conservative and unwilling…
My brother recently had a "vertical experience" in the Disneyland "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror." A 150-foot drop in a rickety old elevator. Three times, in fact. But Disney's vertical engineering legerdemain is less ambitious than that of the diverse…
When Insider Pages was sold to IAC's Citysearch, it seemed like it was probably a distress sale. Many of the Yellow Pages/ratings and review sites of 2004-2006 were falling apart at the same time. Since then, however, Insider Pages appears…
Yellow Pages Group New Zealand has acquired a majority stake in grownups.co.nz, a Web site targeting the over 50s crowd, as reported on Stuff.co.nz. Voted as New Zealand’s best lifestyle Web site in 2008, this acquisition may well prove…
LiveDeal, which has been aggressively pushing a joint classified and directory platform since its merger with YP.com last year, is moving in new directions with the arrival of new president and CEO Mike Edelhart. He replaced former YP.com head Dan…
