TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap

Here are the highlights from the TKG blog over the past week, in case you missed any posts. Click below to read each post in full.

Local.com Launches “Best Of” Program

Local.com today announced a new program that will award local businesses with a new “Best of Local” designation in 15 cities and 20 categories. This will be solely based on user reviews and a formula that takes into account reviews volume and quality. (read more…)

What Kind of Newspaper Reader Are You?

A leading Copenhagen newspaper, Ekstra Bladet, has always sought to “maintain” high frequency buyers; target middle frequency buyers to boost subscriptions and single copy buyers; and target the impulsive behavior of low frequency buyers with pictures of pretty girls and/or scoundrels on the cover. (read more…)

Let the iPhone Frenzy Begin

In case you’ve been in a cave for the past several weeks, the iPhone 3G launches tomorrow. Better yet, the App Store scheduled for tomorrow’s launch is already available (latest version of iTunes required). Current iPhone users will be able to use many of the apps that don’t hinge upon GPS. (read more…)

Gannett Buys ShopLocal at Reduced Valuation; PointRoll CEO Comments on Deal

As first reported by us on July 3, Gannett has purchased the 52.5 percent of ShopLocal that it didn’t own from Tribune, which owned 42.5 percent, and McClatchy, which owned 15 percent. The company’s valuation of $52.5 million reflects a sharp devaluation from 2006, when it was valued at $85 million. (read more…)

BT Makes Breakout Move With Classified Acquisition

BT Directories has made a bold move to bolster its position in the U.K. online directory business by acquiring Ufindus from the Scottish online services firm Iomart, the company announced today. One news outlet reported the purchase price at GBP 20 million. Ufindus, a Lancaster-based online business, had 2007 revenues of just GBP 17 million. (read more…)

CityVoter Adds 3 TV Markets

CityVoter.com, a review and “best of” voting site that powers Web sites for TV stations and other traditional media outlets, has signed a new deal that will boost its count of Hearst-Argyle TV affiliates from five markets to eight. The old markets include Sacramento, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Milwaukee and Jackson. The new markets include Omaha, Kansas City and Louisville. Besides Hearst-Argyle, CityVoter works with stations owned by Fox, Gazette Communications, McGraw-Hill and Post-Newsweek. (read more…)

Pegasus News’ iPhone 3G App Is Time-and-Location Centric

Pegasus News is launching an iPhone App on July 11 to coincide with the launch of iPhone 3G. The app for the Dallas city guide will feature events, restaurants, drinks, Wi-Fi and garage sales, all searchable by the hour and by location. An interesting demo video is available here. (read more…)

Whither the Weather?

Weather is an extremely local subject. One of the first things Weather.com visitors sees on the site is a box in which they enter their ZIP code to get the forecast for their home city or travel destination. (Overlaying the ZIP code with the user’s IP address helps determine if they’re in their home city or not.) To date, most of the ads served up on Weather.com are national. Going forward, however, we think weather-related Web sites will be attractive places to reach local audiences. (read more…)

Strong Local Implications in NBCU Acquisition of The Weather Channel

NBC Universal, along with Bain Capital and The Blackstone Group, has agreed to acquire The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications for a figure reported to be $3.5 billion. The deal is the first of several sell-offs for Landmark, which also hopes to sell Dominion Enterprises, a classified giant, and The Virginian Pilot newspaper in southern Virginia. (read more…)

Keep It Simple When Selling SEM

I read with interest a recent blog post on the Utah Web Services site that really hit home with me on how SEM and SEO are being sold and how they should be sold. SEM and SEO are inherently technical products. The reality, as pointed out so clearly by a CEO (read decision maker and controller of budgets) in this post, is that not everyone understands the technical nature of SEM/SEO: (read more…)