TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap

Here are some highlights from the TKG blog over the past week, in case you missed any posts. Click below to read each post in full.

Review: Yellowpages.com on U-verse TV
I’m a happy subscriber to AT&T’s U-verse IPTV service, and I noticed in the monthly program guide that AT&T’s Yellowpages.com is now available on Channel 97. So I “rented” it … a process that required a one-time-only download of graphics, etc. The Yellowpages.com screen appeared after about a minute. It has the logo on top, a list of nine core YP categories on the lefthand side, and a featured advertiser tile and a search box on the right. (read more…)

Microsoft and Yahoo!: TKG’s Take
Today’s big news is Microsoft‘s unsolicited takeover bid for Yahoo!. The $44.6 billion bid represents a 62 percent premium on Yahoo!‘s closing stock price yesterday, which was affected by Yahoo!’s depressing earnings announcement, in which Yahoo! said it would lay off 1,000 workers to “re-accelerate” growth. (read more…)

Yellow Book IYP Traffic Surges
Yellowbook.com is gaining ground in the U.S. IYP arena. Online measurement firm comScore Networks issued a “year in review” press release this week in which it noted that Yellowbook.com was one of the top-gaining properties of 2007. In December 2007, visits to Yellowbook.com jumped 137 percent to 10.4 million visitors, compared with about 4.4 million in December 2006. (read more…)

The Yellow Pages ‘Keyword’ Version
I read with interest a recent post by Jennifer Osborne on Search Engine People regarding how Millennials fundamentally search for products and services differently as compared with those 30 years old and older. One of the fundamental differences Osborne points out: (read more…)

Matchpoint Buys GetVendors.com, Pushes Lead Gen
GetVendors.com, a California-oriented start-up profiled here last August, has been acquired by Matchpoint, a 30-person service, backed by Oak Investments and IdeaLab and incubated by a team of largely LookSmart veterans. Matchpoint got started a year ago and launched in late summer 2007. (read more…)

Fresh Produce or Google?
Quick, what industry gets the highest customer service quality ratings from U.S. adult consumers, according to an August 2007 Harris Interactive poll? No. 1 is supermarkets with 92 percent giving them a good rating, No. 2 is online search engines (84 percent), and tied for No. 3 (78 percent) are computer hardware companies, hospitals and banks. My personal opinions are irrelevant, but I must admit that supermarkets would not have been at the top of my list. (read more…)

More Retailers Lack Brick-and-Mortar Locations
According to a recent Direct Marketing Association survey, “The absence of a brick-and-mortar store is becoming prevalent among retailers, since 41 percent of survey respondents don’t have a physical store.” This is quite a surprising finding and certainly has significant ramifications for local media sales representatives who continue to identify and pursue new business opportunities. (read more…)

Yellowpages.com Takes Over Yahoo! Local Search for AT&T Customers
In a significant development, AT&T’s Yellowpages.com is replacing Yahoo! Local Search for AT&T’s broadband and Internet customers. It is a move that will greatly enhance Yellowpages.com’s position in the space. The company recently told analysts it expects to attract 2 billion searches in 2008 and 3 billion by 2010. (read more…)

ELocal Listing Launches Video Ads
Local search based marketing specialist eLocal Listing today became the latest in a growing wave of companies to offer video advertising to SMBs. As pointed out in last week’s post “Universal Search Paves the Way for Local Video,” an opportunity exists — outside the IYP realm — to distribute videos on search engines using SEO strategies. (read more…)

Testing iPhone’s New Local Search Functions
Last week, I finally had the chance to download the newest iPhone “firmware” (v.1.1.3) that was launched at Macworld. It included a number of minor enhancements to the overall usability of the device and some upgrades across its main functions. Perhaps the most trumpeted of these were the Google applications upgrades, which included new interfaces for Gmail and other Web-based applications that are optimized for the iPhone screen and interface. (read more…)