TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap
Here is a quick recap of items from the TKG blog this week, in case you missed any. Click below to read each post in full.
Online Video Boom Carries On
ComScore Video Metrix announced today that December saw 10 billion online video views — the largest number to date. There were meanwhile 141 million total unique users to video sites. Google sites led in both categories. (Read more…)YPG Fills a Gap With Acquisition
Yellow Pages Group in Canada made another small step toward complete coverage of the Canadian directory market by acquiring the directory business from TBayTel, a leading telecommunications company in Thunder Bay and Northern Ontario. This means YPG will now be the incumbent publisher in Thunder Bay. TBayTel published one directory title with distribution of more than 120,000 copies. YPG has long served as the sales agent for the TBayTel directory operation. (Read more…)Local.com Boosts Local Sales Staff
Local.com, which has previously relied on third-party sales, is going direct in a big way. The company has outsourced contracts for 50 salespeople, up from 10. “We plan to ramp sales staff to several hundred this year,” says CEO Heath Clarke in an earnings-related announcement, which noted the sales effort is the company’s “most important project.” (Read more…)Newspaper Next 2.0: The ‘Local Info and Connection Utility’
I liked the 2003-2007 concept of a “local info hub.” The idea was to think beyond the original business boundaries of newspapers (and Yellow Pages). Now that concept has been fancifully enlarged to a “local info and connection utility.” (Read more…)Web.com Will Be New Name for Website Pros
Website Pros is taking the name of Web.com, a company it merged with in late September 2007. Company officials say the name change will occur by mid-2008. They note that it reflects the company’s increasingly broad mission, and is easy to remember. (Read more…)Newspapers Launch (Another) National Net
A new national newspaper network has been set up by Gannett, Tribune, New York Times Co. and Hearst Newspapers, representing 37 of the top 40 U.S. markets. The network, Quadrant One, will compete (or extend) McClatchy’s RealCities; the NAA’s National Newspaper Network; Centro, which is independently run and includes a wide range of local media; and Yahoo!, which trickles down its display advertisers to its consortium members. (Read more…)Classifieds on Video? Four Examples Here
When veteran newspaper design consultant Alan Jacobsen called last year to tout his new classified video site, Real People Real Stuff — “the marriage of Craigslist and YouTube” — I thought it was kind of fun but didn’t have very good business prospects. (Read more…)Leadership Changes in Yellow Pages
Idearc Media announced today that Kathy Harless has been replaced as CEO of the directory publisher by board chairman John Mueller, a former CEO of Cincinnati Bell Yellow Pages and Valor Communications. Harless’ departure follows a substantial decline in the company’s share price over the past year, and in particular last week, when the price dropped by nearly half in just two days of trading. (Read more…)Local Search in London: Andrew Day Evangelizes Online
Andrew Day, CEO of European directory publisher Truvo (formerly World Directories), took the stage with Charles Laughlin yesterday at TKG’s one-day local search summit in London. His message can be summed up in one sound byte that was repeated a few times to get the point across. (Read more…)Live Blogging From London: Perry Evans on Local
Perry Evans, CEO of Local Matters, took the stage with Neal Polachek today at Local Online Media: London 08, to sift through some of the key issues in the quickly changing local search environment. Evans, as one of the ground-floor leaders of MapQuest in a former life, took a product innovation focus in looking at where search engines and IYPs need to go to be more effective at attracting users and delivering leads to local advertisers. (Read more…)
