BIA/Kelsey’s 2015 Analyst Predictions

Every December, BIA/Kelsey analysts are challenged to make predictions for the coming year in their coverage areas (directories, mobile, sales, search, social, transactions & loyalty, video). This year’s batch, BIA/Kelsey’s 2015 Analyst Predictions came out last week on the eve of our Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media conference in San Francisco.

BIA/Kelsey analysts submitted more than 20 predictions, and from these the strongest 10 predictions made it into the 2015 report. This year’s crop covers a diverse range of topics, reflecting the breadth and diversity of the analysts’ knowledge set.

Last week at the ILM conference, three analysts offered a preview of this year’s predictions during a luncheon for BIA/Kelsey clients.

Prediction: The Era of Full-Circle Marketing Arrives

BIA/Kelsey Senior Director of Industry Strategy and Insight Abid Chaudhry predicted that seamless full-circle marketing – the ability to combine offline and online into a single trackable campaign – will become reality in 2015. “The combination of evolving call tracking, routing, automation technology and mature location-based marketing solutions will for the first time give marketers total click-to-purchase visibility of their marketing funnel,” Chaudhry said.

Here is Abid discussing his prediction at the client lunch:

Prediction: Angie’s List Sold, Subscriptions Dropped

Managing Director Rick Ducey shared his prediction that Angie’s List will be sold and turned into a free site in 2015. “Ratings and reviews for home improvement sites have gone mainstream,” Ducey said. “Soon there won’t be room for a premium model such as Angie’s List, which is already seeing less than 40 percent of its revenue from premium subscriptions. Buyers may come from major media – Gannett was once interested – or perhaps one of the digital powerhouses (Google, Amazon, Yahoo).”

 Prediction: New Era of Same Day Delivery Deferred

Sometimes analyst predictions are as much about what won’t happen as what will. VP & Chief Analyst Peter Krasilovsky believes the new era of same-day delivery will be slowed down by economic realities and poor synergies with existing products. “eBay is already pulling back on its efforts, and we’ll see others – amazon, Walmart and Google – also  begin to pull back from early tests,” Krasilovksy explained. “But impulse buyers will still have several options, including the continued growth of Online Order/Pick Up in Store (or neighborhood location.)”

The full 2015 predictions report is available for download to clients of BIA/Kelsey’s advisory services.

Note: This post was originally published on December 12 and was updated on December 19 to include a video link.