TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap
In case you missed any posts last week, here are a few highlights.
It’s About the Money, Remember
Last week, Local.com announced that it will acquire PremierGuide, a white-label local search solution, for US$2 million. I’ve read a handful of reviews about this acquisition and most seem to be missing the most important part of this deal: It’s about the money. Specifically, it looks to me like this deal has a pay-back for Local.com of about one year. I spoke with Heath Clarke, CEO of Local.com, about the deal this week to confirm a few numbers. (read more…)RHD Buys Business.com
This just in. Directory publisher R.H. Donnelley has acquired Business.com, a B2B-oriented search engine and ad network that was acquired by Earthlink founder Sky Dayton for US$7.5 million in 1999. The acquisition was announced today, just before RHD’s second-quarter earnings report. (read more…)Paul Levine Has Left the Building
Paul Levine has resigned his position as GM of Yahoo! Local to take the VP of marketing slot at AdBright, a Sequoia Capital backed ad marketplace. Jennifer Dulski will be taking over local responsibilities as group vice president and general manager, Marketplace. The position will also include responsibility for Shopping, Travel, Autos and Real Estate. (read more…)Fisher’s Goals for ‘PanLocal’ (and Pegasus)
We’re always looking to identify TV station groups that really get it and are going to push hard to compete for local traffic and advertisers online. Is Fisher Communications the one? Last week, Fisher – a publicly traded, Seattle-based owner of 12 full power TV stations, seven low power stations and eight radio stations – purchased Mike Orren’s Pegasus News, which had developed a prototype “pan-local” site in Dallas. (read more…)LicketyShip: A Local Delivery Option for Recycler.com
LicketyShip will announce a partnership with the Los Angeles Times-owned Recycler.com today to provide a same-day local delivery option for classified customers. This sounds ominously like bubble era companies that went bust, for example, Kozmo.com, which burned through more than $200 million in venture funding. Or who could forget the wonderful Wired articles of Webvan drivers forced to repeatedly deliver packs of gum to eager college students who thought repeat deliveries for low-cost items was the joke du jour? It turns out that the LicketyShip strategy is a little different – an interesting hypothesis with a few surprises. (read more…)iPhone: Cool, Wishing It Were More Local
I had a great time playing with a friend’s iPhone this weekend. The thing is really nice – even more beautiful in person than in pictures and sturdy beyond expectations. And fun, too. But maybe I won’t buy one for a couple of years. It isn’t so much the 4 or 8 GB of storage (we’ve grown spoiled). Or the AT&T service. Or the Web surfing, which with a Wi-Fi connection is pretty fast (but with a footprint too small to enjoy doing much more than sports scores). (read more…)When Will Yellow Pages Come to the Social?
Social networking has become and will continue to be one of the hottest trends on the Internet. The goal of social networks is to connect like-minded people based on their interests and often on their needs. In some cases social networks are used to identify the best brands and to root out possible companies to avoid, similar to many consumer comment sites. The beauty of social networks is that they engage participants and provide safe and enjoyable forums to discuss a variety of topics. (read more…)Superpages Launches Video Beta
Idearc’s Superpages has launched a beta version of a video advertising product, the company announced today. Here is a copy of the announcement. Video has quickly emerged as an essential element for a fully functional local online product, even if uptake among SMEs is small at this stage. (read more…)Krillion Adds Televisions as New Vertical
Fast moving product information Web site Krillion, recently written about here, today announced that it will add high-definition flat screen televisions to its millions of home appliance product listings. Its total product listings will now exceed half a billion. It will provide product information for the 10 top retailers, covering 80 percent of the television market. This includes 50 television manufacturers, which is incremental to the 35 manufacturers in its core home appliance category. (read more…)
