To bundle or not to bundle; that is the question we ask to kick off this week’s analyst roundtable. Charles Laughlin, Abid Chaudhry and I discussed that and a few other topics from our respective coverage areas. The video is embedded below.

The app bundling issue is told through Facebook’s forced migration to Messenger. The question is whether users want many standalone apps or fewer multifunction apps.  The takeaway: unbundling should be done sparingly and not just because the cool kids are doing it (Facebook).

Charles Laughlin led a discussion around exclusive interviews he’s doing with local ad sales leaders. He sees a shift towards utilizing data and a “Moneyball” approach to telesales. This involves moving from traditional metrics like quantity of outbound dials made (and baseball bats).

Abid Chaudhry continued this data theme with a look at  a common question he’s answering for many BIA/Kelsey clients around better utilizing available data. This is told through the story of Pro.com, which determines home services job pricing in a very data-centric way.

Big data is actually threaded throughout all three segments, considering there’s a call for better usage metrics to determine the right app bundling strategy. This moves from the admittedly cliche “big data” trend discussion to some real tactical application in local media.

Much more of that to come, including our upcoming SMB Digital Marketing conference.