There is a tendency for speakers at a large conference to want to sell (they would say "educate") the audience about their companies' products and services. I know I'm guilty of it. Nevertheless, it is refreshing when a person making a presentation…
In a session called "The Online City: Close Up on Seattle" here at Drilling Down on Local, The Seattle Times' Patricia Lee Smith reiterated a point made earlier by the LA Times' Rob Barrett, which is that online newspapers cannot…
The Drilling Down on Local conference kicked off this morning with a presentation and conversation with Rob Barrett, the LA Times' VP of Interactive. The underlying theme was how the Times is reengineering its online product to be ... an…
MediaNews Group, the fourth largest newspaper publisher with titles such as The Denver Post and The San Jose Mercury News, has teamed up with TauMed to launch a video-centric health vertical. The vertical launches this month at four of MNG’s…
Matt Booth and I had the chance to meet with Topix at its Palo Alto headquarters last week to unearth some of its user data, as well as some heretofore unannounced content partnerships. Late last year, the site redefined itself…
In light of BostonNow’s closure this week (apparently for investment-related reasons), I’ve been mulling over the future of free metro papers in the U.S. The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and The San Diego Union-Tribune are among newspaper companies that…
I am always leery of reports that point to a “Scandinavian miracle” (or a “Massachusetts miracle” or what have you). But a December 2007 NAA Growing Audience report has some valuable details about how Schibsted Media, the Scandinavian publishing giant…
Zillow continues its march up the real estate value chain with a new feature that allows house buyers to apply for mortgages. The mortgage service, like everything else on Zillow, is ad-supported and free to both buyers and lenders. It…
Is there still a role in local search for a "niche" provider like Gannett's Planet Discover? The question comes up after Boston.com VP of Product Bob Kempf said there really is no substitute for a major search engine tie, and…
The small-business advertising arms race has gotten hotter in recent weeks, as companies eye a chance to add Google and Yahoo! search solutions, and other services to small-business marketing budgets once totally contained by Yellow Pages. First we had ReachLocal’s…
Last week, we wrote about The Seattle Times Co. and its new “Network search,” which is powered with FAST. This week, we are covering The Boston Globe’s Boston.com and its new “Federated” search solution, powered by Google. Federated and Network…
One big takeaway from the NAA Marketing show last week in Orlando was that newspapers are ready to build up a zillion niche products that allow them to leverage their editorial talents. But not much progress, or even attention, is…
Google’s Print Ads program, which sells contextual display space in print newspapers, is now working with 750 newspapers, according to Stephanie Davis, Print Ads head of publisher development. Davis was speaking on a panel at this week’s NAA Marketing conference…
The 19-company Yahoo! newspaper consortium is set to launch beta tests with two newspapers of Content Match, an AdSense-like product. The beta tests are expected to be followed by a launch throughout the entire consortium in September, according to Lee…
When a local team headed by ad agency and PR veteran Brian Tierney bought The Philadelphia Inquirer and related holdings 18 months ago, it was seen as a possible model for how “new thinking” could transform the newspaper industry. Since then,…
MediaNews Group CEO Dean Singleton is well known within the newspaper industry as one of the least sentimental businessmen among all the publishers. He’s taken a hard line against journalistic "excess," resulting in products that have been highly profitable but…
I liked the 2003-2007 concept of a “local info hub.” The idea was to think beyond the original business boundaries of newspapers (and Yellow Pages). Now that concept has been fancifully enlarged to a “local info and connection utility." The…
A new national newspaper network has been set up by Gannett, Tribune, New York Times Co. and Hearst Newspapers, representing 37 of the top 40 U.S. markets. The network, Quadrant One, will compete (or extend) McClatchy’s RealCities; the NAA’s National…
When veteran newspaper design consultant Alan Jacobsen called last year to tout his new classified video site, Real People Real Stuff -- “the marriage of Craigslist and YouTube” -- I thought it was kind of fun but didn’t have very good…
This year’s National Automobile Dealers Association convention in San Francisco, Feb. 9-12, reflected the tough times that have hit the industry. Themes at the show didn’t go much beyond the convention’s official title: “Focus on Profitability.” But a sub-theme at…