TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap

Last week was cut short by the Thanksgiving holiday, but we still saw a few notable news items. Here is a roundup, in case you missed any posts. Click below to read each post in full.

Yellow Pages News Roundup

Here is a collection of newsworthy Yellow Pages and directional media items that I’ve noted over the past week or so. Got this press release in my inbox from Yell Group this morning, showing some creativity in linking the print directory with the mobile Web. (read more…)

IBegin Enhances Local Listings; Adds Self-Editing, Other Features

IBegin has been trying to add its own Web 2.0 sensibility to the listings business, offering free basic directories of businesses, and customization services on an upgrade basis. It now has 150 businesses and organizations subscribing, including schools, local and state government, city services, chambers of commerce, professional associations, hotels, golf courses, newspapers, TV stations and radio stations. (read more…)

Vote: Mashable’s Open Web Awards (Where’s Local??)

Mashable is holding its second annual Open Web Awards and voting is open until Dec. 15. You can vote for one company in each of the 26 categories, such as social networking, photo sharing, search & social search, etc. (full list here). But my biggest question is, where’s local? (read more…)

ILM Coverage II: The Tweet Roundup

Following the roundup of blog coverage of ILM:08, you can view all the Twitter comments that are tagged and aggregated here. There was lots of good chatter and some good gems scattered throughout the 100+ tweets from the event. (read more…)

YouTube Goes Widescreen

I noticed today when watching a YouTube video that the viewing window has switched to a 16:9 aspect ratio. For videos in 4:3 ratio already on YouTube, they simply sit in the middle of the widescreen window (see example below). This is a logical move for YouTube as it tries to monetize its content. (read more…)

Watch: AutoTrader Weighs In on Automotive Bailout

Our friend Chip Perry, CEO of AutoTrader.com, was on Fox News yesterday, making a case for an auto industry (conditional) bailout to Neil Cavuto. The argument is that a strategic taxpayer investment that comes with performance-based conditions could force the industry into being more efficient. On the marketing side, for example, Perry pointed out how the industry spends $30 billion on advertising to sell 12 million cars. That’s more than $2,000 per car, and it’s mostly going toward traditional mass media where only 10 percent of the audience is in the market to buy a car. (read more…)

What’s Next for Google TV?

One of the prevalent themes at last week’s ILM:08 conference was how the economic environment is forcing businesses of all sizes to pay closer attention to their advertising ROI. With that will come an acceleration of the existing trend toward more measurable online media. Google TV is one place that could benefit from this, as television spot advertising is expected to be one of the biggest victims of continued ad spending declines at local and national levels. Here, a double-edged sword faces many forms of online advertising. (read more…)

Zurich Conference Focuses on Print YP Innovation

The sixth annual Yellow Pages Today Conference assembled experts from the industry to give their specialist opinions around the theme of this year’s conference, “The Future of the Printed Directory.” Margit Kaluza-Baumruker, the marketing director from Herold Business Data in Austria, addressed the topic, “How does the user think of the future of the printed directory?” (read more…)

Street View on the iPhone: Pretty Nice

Last night, I finally got around to downloading the newest iPhone firmware (v2.2) that was released Friday. It includes enhancements to browsing in Safari, Podcast integration, the option to deactivate typing auto correct (thank you!) and Google Street View. The latter stands out among all the new features and is being touted as the new release’s centerpiece. And rightly so — it’s a nice integration that places a little icon right next to the “pushpin” of a given business. (read more…)