At the Local Search Association's Search Starts Here conference in Boca Raton, today's sessions kicked off with Google's view of opportunities in local. As usual lately, this tied in closely with lots of trends and themes in mobile and social.…
In the ongoing cycle of market forecasting, we're once again at a half-year refresh for mobile local ad revenue projections. Though the "money slide" (literally) of the forecast is a revenue outlook, there are lots of background inputs to dissect.…
Today we put out a press release with some of the mobile figures from our recent local media forecast. And later I'll follow up with a post that digs much deeper into some of the numbers. This is all stuff…
This Thursday, we'll be participating in a webcast about getting up and running on mobile. This includes both apps and mobile Web presence, as well as launching ad campaigns for greater exposure/traffic. I'll present some of our forecast data and…
AT&T has sold a 53 percent stake in its Yellow Pages business to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital for $950 million. This works out to a valuation of $1.8 billion. The deal involves both the Advertising Solutions and AT&T…
Google's GoMo effort just took a step forward by offering free do-it-yourself mobile website creation. GoMo, for those unfamiliar, is the search giant's program to evangelize the benefits of websites that are optimized for mobile devices. The goal is cleaner…
There's been lots of talk over the past 24 hours about Google's new "Project Glass," and yes it's pretty cool. For those unfamiliar, this is Google's project to develop eyewear that overlays media and search information (think directions or local…
The staff of Italy's leading directory publisher, Seat Pagine Gialle, is in a state of shock following the sudden death last week of its popular CEO, who is credited with saving the company from collapse. Alberto Cappellini died March 25 from…
Merrill Brown, principal of MMB Media, joined ILM East conference architect Peter Krasilovsky on stage this morning to talk about the transition of hyperlocal and hypervertical sites from unprofitable hobby sites for civic and mom-and-pop organizations to one that is…
Today at BIA/Kelsey's ILM East conference, Christine Merritt, Google's head of business development of channel sales, revealed the inner workings of the AdWords local reseller program. This follows closely behind lots of industry consternation, given some of Google's shifting moves…
The biggest boom in local is actually national. With geotargeting options, better metrics and better creative national brands and agencies are increasingly going the local route. GroupM research shows that 83 percent of brand advertisers expect their local online spending…
BIA/Kelsey Program Director Mike Boland ran yet another data packed and insightful mobile forum that attendees have come to love and expect at each BIA/Kelsey conference. With a power-packed lineup of speakers, Boland and the panelists covered the waterfront of…
Today at BIA/Kelsey's ILM East conference, outgoing Citygrid Media CEO Jay Herratti gave a retrospective view of the past five years of local media -- what has worked and what hasn't. He also didn't miss the opportunity to make some…
Two leading digital executives from the Boston Globe shared some of the innovative ways the newspaper is using social media to connect with Boston consumers and extend the newspaper's relevance in the community. Lisa DeSisto, chief advertising officer/GM of Boston.com,…
Today at BIA/Kelsey's ILM East conference, a panel of leaders in the local deals space batted around how things are playing out in the space's Sophmore year. Bill Bice, President and CEO, BoomTime Jere Doyle, Founder, President and CEO, Prospectiv…
American Express executive Leslie Berland described how the company is using its unique relationship with merchants to help national brands and local small business leverage social media. Berland delivered the opening keynote address here at ILM East in Boston. "We…
BIA/Kelsey's top analysts kicked off this week's ILM East conference in Boston with some data-supported insights into their respective coverage areas. Some examples: * Social Local Media program director Jed Williams walked the audience through his recent detailed assessment of Facebook's…
"We aren't [as a culture] wired for long-term investment, and SEO is long term. We'd rather take a statin drug than use diet and exercise to stay healthy." That's how Search Influence CEO Will Scott described the SEO dilemma. It's…
Last week, BIA/Kelsey issued its annual U.S. Local Media Forecast, which included our five-year view on Yellow Pages revenues. The bottom line is U.S. Yellow Pages revenues will be about $7 billion in five years. Roughly 60 percent of those…
Thomsonlocal.com, the U.K. local print and online directories company owned by Italy's Seat PG, has changed CEOs. Effective April 1, Elio Schiavo will move over to run Seat's Telegate (directory assistance) operation full time. Schiavo has recently been dividing his…