Jingle Expands Free DA Deal With Nuance

Jingle Networks, the provider of 1-800-FREE411, has expanded its relationship with Nuance for speech recognition technology. Under terms of the deal, Nuance will also be referring its voice-enabled customers to the Jingle ad platform. Presumably, if Nuance does audio work for McDonald’s, for instance, it could easily be uploaded into the Jingle platform.

The Nuance announcement follows earlier news that Jingle will be working with White Directory, a large independent directory publisher in New York and the Southeast, for national and local sales. White is owned by Hearst, which is a large investor in Jingle.

Jingle had been actually testing in five markets with Call Genie before deciding on Nuance. Call Genie recently signed a major deal for its Enhanced Voice Directory service with Verizon, adding to its prior ties with YPG and Telus. In the free DA space, Call Genie also works with Say Hello, which provides free DA services to The Florida Times-Union and others.

In separate news, Call Genie also announced that it has “lit up” every U.S. and Canadian market with a population of more than 300,000 — 200 metro areas in all. The company believes the effort will give it a head start in providing DA services for national and local media and directory companies.