I’ll Take Staten

U.S. independent directory publisher Ambassador Yellow Pages announced that it has entered the Staten Island, New York, market. The publisher is currently in canvas with the book, which will publish in August, just ahead of rival Yellow Book. Details on distribution were not immediately available.

Ambassador's published rates are US$6,000 for a double half-column ad and US$16,800 for a full-page ad. Yellow Book's Staten Island directory publishes in September with 171,700 copies printed. Yellow Book charges US$6,216 for a DHC and US$17,076 for a full page. Market incumbent Verizon Information Services, which will not publish again in Staten Island until January 2007, produces 214,469 printed copies, with a DHC rate of US$11,743 and a full-page rate of US$45,864. The population of Staten Island is 467,000. The estimated size of the Staten Island directory market is US$20 million.

Ambassador's entry makes Staten Island a three-book market, which seems pretty crowded on a small island — one that is even smaller once you exclude the Fresh Kills landfill. Ambassador has held its own against its two main competitors, however. In the first batch of syndicated usage results published earlier this year by the Yellow Pages Market Reporter, Ambassador came in second in Manhattan, behind incumbent Verizon and ahead of Yellow Book. This was widely viewed as a strong showing for a company long presumed to be the third player in that market.