Deal-a-day group buying is a certain hit. But how important is it in the scheme of things for local media companies? For The San Diego Union-Tribune, deals represented “the number one new revenue growth,” in 2010, according to Mike Hodges,…
In his keynote address at DMS ’10, Yext CEO Howard Lerman pointed to the imminent release of a tags product in response to Google Tags and emphasized that tags could grow into the standard local advertising unit. Sure enough, the…
EBay has issued a press release today, recounting some of its mobile milestones this year. Most notable was the 166 percent year-over-year increase in holiday gross merchandise value (11/25-12/25) to $230 million. Designer handbags, diamond jewelry and Rolex watches topped…
Shopping portals have moved beyond “federated search,” and now combine the best of daily deals, coupons, weekly ads and other promotional information in ways that are more efficient -- and drive more shopping. At the national level, Gannett's ShopLocal.com has…
The ability to track retail inventory has been on the retail wish list for years. Retailers advertise goods, and then disappoint customers when they don’t have them in stock. Or they have loads of stock in the store, and don’t…
The past few weeks saw lots of activity in the mobile world. Among other things, we released our mobile forecast, threw a big conference and watched the winding down of the biggest year in mobile's history. In case you missed…
I'm catching up with a slew of items after being out for a week, including our forthcoming 2011 predictions. In the spirit of looking forward, mobile ad exchange Mobclix looks back on the top mobile trends of 2010. This of…
I take great delight in the Carlsbad Patch updates on my smartphone every morning. And the Fwix local app on my iPad. But why do I feel they are my “guilty pleasures”? Because there is a rap out there that…
Groupon's smashing success has spawned hundreds of clones and, given its relatively simple technology and the absence of entry barriers, buoyed those imitators that they too may strike it rich in social commerce. Wildfire Promotion Builder comes at it from a different angle.…
Just in time for holiday search, shop and feast, both restaurant recommendation site Urbanspoon and local reviews hub Yelp are ramping up their mobile efforts. Urbanspoon's updated iPhone application adds a new layer of recommendation capability by allowing users to…
In case you haven’t noticed, eBay has been ramping up a local strategy in the past few months via the integration of all its vertical properties with its home site, the $75 million purchase of Milo.com, and today, a $200…
Following Google's Carter Maslan at ILM:10 last week, we got to hear about Google Ventures’ investment parameters from partner Wesley Chan. The fund invests in tech companies at every stage from seed to mezzanine. Its portfolio includes HomeAway, 23andMe, ngmoco,…
With destination sites, white-label providers and aggregators all crowding into the deal-a-day space, the struggle to differentiate and scale is complex. DealOn, which operates its own group buying sites in 16 markets and also offers white-label branding, thinks it has…
Last month I had lunch with Infogroup's Pankaj Mathur to discuss a range of topics in mobile and local media. One thing we discussed was a new Twitter partnership that was then under wraps. Today the wrapping was taken off.…
EMarketer just posted new data on its blog showing comparative shares of time spent per day per medium. What stands out for me is that mobile is up 28 percent this year to 50 minutes per day. Also interesting --…
Carter Maslan, Google product director for local search, took the stage during last week's ILM:10 conference to track and extrapolate the advancement of online local media. The aha moment for Maslan was when he was at Microsoft and his friend…
One of the challenges presented by online video in the directory space is that the video content is often buried inside the IYP listing. This has always seemed like a suboptimal way to present valuable content in a format that…
Mobile ad network Millennial Media is out with its latest monthly Mobile Mix report, showing that Android impressions have caught up with Apple's iOS in the U.S. Within the 58 percent of devices that are smartphones, both Android and iOS…
To date, most location-specific advertising requires in-store check-ins to unlock discounts and special offers. Naturally, that necessitates having a storefront that lends itself to walk-in -- and check-in -- traffic. Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and others have garnered first-mover hype with these…
Our ILM:10 conference probably hit something of “a perfect storm” for the 681 senior level execs and entrepreneurs in attendance. While we’ve been cheerleading the local opportunity since the mid-1990s, the big money has now really focused on the local…
