TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap

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

Interview: CEO Jim Riesenbach on Autobytel’s Future

The news hit the wires this week that Autobytel, one of the original third-party auto sites, had hired RBC Capital Markets to explore its options, and was laying off 75 of its 225 workers. This was on top of recent executive departures (Mark Canon to Yell.com; Jon Rosen to Spot Runner). We asked CEO Jim Riesenbach, originally recruited from the leadership at AOL, what was really going on. Riesenbach says it is not as bad it may look. (read more…)

G5 Proposes More Transparency for Local Ad Spending

G5 search marketing has carved out a niche in the self storage sector. Its model has grown over the past few years with the general demand in the marketplace for more performance metrics in local advertising. Its suite of services now includes hosted Web sites, SEM & SEO services, call tracking, coupon management, and an analytics dashboard to tie it all together. (read more…)

Yellow Pages No Longer an Exclusive

One of the things that dawned on me after listening to the many speakers at our recent DMS ’08 conference in Atlanta was that a fundamental aspect of the Yellow Pages business has been lost — exclusivity. During the days before the Internet and the massive sharing of data with Google, Yahoo and others, the content and data of the Yellow Pages were exclusive to the print directories or their online counterparts. (read more…)

Zillow Adds a Home Services Directory

With the real estate market in an indefinite doldrums, Zillow is transforming itself from an information provider about home sales to a full-service provider of information for home owners. The ad-supported service announced today that it is launching a Professional Services Directory that is probably going to encroach on similar territory mined by services such as Angie’s List or ServiceMagic. (read more…)

Henry Brings YP Experience to Spotzer

Spotzer, an Amsterdam company selling a “ready to air” video solution for SMBs, has made clear it is serious about partnering with traditional media channels to brings its solution to small businesses. The company announced today that it has brought on Gordon Henry to serve as president of its North and South American operations. (read more…)

Can Local Video Weather an Economic Storm?

There’s not a lot of doubt we could see advertising slumps across different forms of media, if we haven’t already. How will this affect video advertising — especially video at the local level that we’ve seen pick up over the past two years? It’s true that economic conditions could force a rethinking (via LostRemote) of ad budgets in lots of local verticals that do television ads, such as auto dealers. But they could also push local advertisers online where they perceive more efficient and targeted video distribution. (read more…)

Clickable Provides SMBs With Search Management

To the ranks of Marchex Connect, WebVisible, ReachLocal, Yodle, Metrix4Media, Orange Soda and others add Clickable, a pay-per-click and search “dashboard” company that has attracted $23 million in venture funding from Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures and FirstMark Capital. The company’s vision is to focus on an Omniture-like dashboard for larger local businesses such as auto dealers and hospitals that typically have search budgets in the neighborhood of $50K per year. (read more…)

Wireless Atop the Quad-Play Heap for AT&T?

The Wall Street Journal reports on AT&T’s announced management restructuring today that puts wireless division chief Ralph de la Vega in charge of a broader consumer markets division. This division will encompass television (U-verse), telephone, wireless and broadband services. (read more…)

Google Takes a Different Look at Social Networking

After some disappointing metrics coming out of the contextual ads it places on MySpace, Google has begun to look at other ways it can serve ads in online social communities. This could essentially involve a more granular look at not only what content is on the page but also the dynamics of the social graph itself. People’s influence on one another for example, could be added to the equation to determine ad placements that have the greatest likelihood of engagement. (read more…)

Zvents Gets $24 Million, Boosts ‘What, When and Where’ Vision

Zvents, which is seeking to transform the events category to a broader “what, when and where” category that encompasses local entertainment, organizations and businesses, has announced $24 million in new funding from AT&T (i.e., wireless and Yellow Pages), Nokia Growth Capital and NAVTEQ. (read more…)