The recently acquired Tellme today announced that it will integrate a new local business search into its multi-modal voice search platform. From the press release: The free service launches today with local business search by business name or category. Designed…
Whenever a new man moves into my community, one of the mothers in my neighborhood immediately searches the Megan's List database, which is dedicated to ID'ing sex offenders. A new site, FatDoor, however, hopes to look on the brighter side…
We’ve got several meaty personnel moves to report in the global Yellow Pages business this morning, most of them involving Australia’s Sensis. The big news is that Sensis has hired U.S. industry veteran Carol Johnson as chief operating officer, directory…
Google and Clear Channel Communications will announce a partnership today whereby the search company will sell 5 percent of the radio group's inventory in 100 top U.S. markets. The agreement covers roughly 675 Clear Channel stations. Terms of the deal,…
Google has reached an agreement to buy DoubleClick, a display ad network, for US$3.1 billion in cash. The acquisition moves Google deeper into the critical display and rich media markets, a segment the company has vowed to become a larger…
After weeks of rumors that Microsoft was in talks to buy DoubleClick, and subsequent rumors that Google had swept in to start its own talks, Google today came away with the company for whopping US$3.1 billion. This could mean a…
The WSJ is reporting that McClatchy, the publisher of 30 newspapers, is set to be the 12th newspaper publisher to join the Yahoo! consortium, leaving behind Gannett and Tribune, which had hoped to work with McClatchy to build an alternative…
A successful SES New York is coming to a close. This was a significant event for many because it was the last SES show that Danny Sullivan will run. Last night, Danny hosted his evening seminar, a bittersweet event that…
The disintermediation of local media doesn't stop. First, we got Realtors cutting into newspaper audiences (and advertising) by adding all the area listings to their Web sites. Phase Two is going to be the disintermediation of Yellow Pages, if you…
Mobile versions of newspaper and TV station sites WAPsites have mostly been corporate vanity projects, generally attracting just a couple of dozen regular users. But as the demographics for enhanced mobile services have graduated from kids downloading ringtones and…
WCAU-TV, NBC's owned and operated station in Philadelphia, is launching DigPhilly, a city site, reports today's Wall Street Journal. The site isn't yet up and running, but a teaser features buttons for "learn," "do," "share," "find" and "shop." The Journal…
OpenTable, the secretive eight-year-old restaurant reservation service, was slow to take off, with some of its local media and directory affiliates reporting little traffic in its early days (and a competing service, Foodline, basically dropping off the map). But in…
Between sessions at SES New York, I had the chance to sit down with Alex Vlasto, head of global communications for Miva. The company is moving in some interesting directions, shown most recently by the deal it formed with Conde…
This morning I attended an interesting session on advertising on social networks at SES New York. Much of the subject matter here has implicit ties to local, and some explicit. The conversation around social networking in this session was, correspondingly,…
The leading evangelists for online TV station advertising WorldNow, IBS, Broadcast Interactive Media, Media Span, the station groups themselves have their work cut out for them. Some TV stations are now registering in the mid-six figures for online sales,…
EBay's PR people seem to have tried to get some human interest stories going by citing Lumberton, New Jersey, as its No. 1 town of buyers and sellers on a per capita basis. Are you surprised? I was. I thought…
Saw an interesting announcement from Idearc Media that shows the publisher is trying to keep pace with the shifts occurring in consumer priorities. Idearc is introducing a Green Business Guide in its Madison, Wisconsin, book, which hits the streets in…
Google has officially launched its free 411 product. The number, 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411), makes business name and category search accessible from any U.S. telephone. This is a product we originally uncovered in our report Wireless Voice Search: The Multi-Modal Revolution. At…
This article in The Australian summarizes a report on overall 2006 media growth in Australia. It singles out print directories as being a particular drag on media spend. It also notes that once online is stripped out, traditional media overall…
Apparently, those who were worried about AT&T Advertising & Publishing leaving its St. Louis headquarters digs can rest easy. This story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests the decision was big news in St. Louis, since it affected more than…
