As we reported last week, we've learned that eBay Motors is going full speed ahead with local. Now we have more info. Within four to six months, sources tell us that the auction leader will be launching a full-fledged, re-branded…
Newspapers need to prepare for the next generation by right-sizing their operations, diversifying their holdings, and finally grasping, from top to bottom, that there has been an online, pay-for-performance advertising revolution that is at least as significant as the online…
Telecom New Zealand has confirmed reports that it is considering selling its directory business, Telecom Directories Ltd. According to The Dominion Post, Telecom New Zealand's CFO has acknowledged the possibility of a directories sale and that the telecom would use…
Today I had the chance to speak with Scott Dunlap, CEO of NearbyNow, which has an interesting model for bringing inventory data online to drive offline conversions. There is very little I can say at this point because of embargoed…
Like most of us in the Yellow Pages industry, we have taken the 30 seconds or so required to set up both a Yahoo! Alert and a Google Alert for terms such as Yellow Pages, directory publishing or IYP. Today's…
EBay Motors, which has more traffic than any other auto site, has just sold its two- millionth car. Of course, the status as traffic leader should be asterisked, as execs from Autotrader, Autobytel and Cars.com are quick to point out.…
A number of people wrote in to tell us that Google's entry in the local coupon space is validation of the segment and will help drive coupon traffic. But it doesn't mean that Google unilaterally wins the game. Premier Guide…
Sometimes, you can tell a lot about where a company is going by who stays and who leaves — especially if you think you have an inkling why.I don't want to turn this into an Executive Turntable page or anything.…
New features can be found on Google Talk today, including unlimited file transfer between users and voicemail capability. If someone isn't "available" in Google Talk, you can record a message that is then sent to that person's e-mail address as…
Here is a roundup of news from around the social networking world this week:— The San Jose Mercury News reports on the various services that surround MySpace and have ridden its coattails to success. As we recently analyzed in this…
Google announced today that it has partnered with coupon distributor Valpak to provide electronic coupons that are served with business listings in Google Local. At launch today, this will include 20,000 coupons from Valpak's existing advertisers. We've long advocated the…
Yellow Pages Group announced today it is buying MTS Media, the directory unit of MTS Allstream, for C$281 million. This is a healthy price for a business that generated C$42 million in revenues, but YPG is a motivated buyer, given…
The always insightful Mark Glaser has an interesting column on "old think" vs. "new think" in the media.for example:Oldthink: Thinking professional editors are the only ones who can decide what the important stories are each day.Newthink: Realizing we have the…
From the Friday Brain Candy Department, here are two entertaining videos on the long tail.This one from Chris Anderson's Long Tail Blog: an aesthetically pleasing (though admittedly promotional) video on the long tail and Anderson's book (which I plan to…
We are all watching YouTube. Long term, we know it isn't a business because of the copyright issue. But the site's success demonstrates real demand for aggregated on-demand video — including local video. I like what columnist Terry Heaton says…
Earlier this week my colleague Charles Laughlin wrote about "The Yellow Pages Brand Fight Developing in Germany." In short Deutsche Telekom, the largest communications company in Europe, lost its trademark for the name "Gelbe Seiten" (Yellow Pages), which it registered…
In our recently released special report on the newspaper industry, we profiled a few partnerships between traditional publishers and online players and speculated about future arrangements. One potential deal that clearly made sense involved WebVisible, a provider of interactive online…
Yelp, a social network/Yellow Pages hybrid, has launched a mobile version for the Palm Treo as part of a broader marketing relationship between the two companies. Terms are not being disclosed, but cash and tech support have likely been provided…
Canada's Yellow Pages Group just released its 2Q and first-half numbers. On a comparable basis, its 2Q directory revenue growth rate was 4.7 percent and EBITDA was up 8 percent. The company's guidance for the full year is top-line growth…
Now that the dust has settled, it is time to begin assessing the local impact of Fox Interactive's alliance with Google. The three-year, nine-month deal gives Google a place on MySpace's upcoming toolbar, and the right to place ads on…
