More Radio
In addition to Matt's post below, it is worth noting that a very high proportion — more than 75 percent — of radio advertising revenues are "local" in nature. This fact is sometimes underappreciated because the ad dollars flow from…
Marin: A Case Study
I've lived in Marin County, California, for almost 20 years now. For three-quarters of the time the Pacific Bell/SBC/AT&T Yellow Pages directory was the only one available. A couple of years ago, Seig Fischer and his Valley Yellow Pages team…
Sensis’ Tall Order
Sensis, Australia's leading Yellow Pages publisher and diversified media company, has a tall order to nearly double revenues by 2010. A Goldman Sachs analyst suggested that only through acquisitions could Sensis reach its goal. The key question is, what properties…
Tough Times for Local TV
Interesting story in today's WSJ about the challenges facing local television stations. Much has been written about the impact the Internet will have on the TV business. Many analysts were quick to point out that television revenues and CPMs continue…
Post-Hurricane Home Improvement
This is an interesting story from the Miami Herald about post-hurricane remodeling. Note the mention of Home Depot and Lowe's installation services. This development in the local services marketplace is something TKG will be following in the coming months.
Unlocking PagesJaunes’ Value
Reports circulated over the weekend that France Telecom is considering selling off the 54 percent it owns of PagesJaunes Groupe. PagesJaunes is among the best Yellow Pages assets in the world. It has had the great advantage of learning from…
Get Your Dot Mobi Now!
Have you registered your "dot" mobi domain name? You better get to it because they're going fast. A company founded with the help of Microsoft, Google, Vodafone and Nokia is now registering "dot" mobi domains. Ever since the Internet became…
Yell for Yell
Yell Group got a loud round of applause from Merrill Lynch as the company reiterated its "buy" advice after releasing its full-year results. Among the various metrics shared by Yell, the most impressive was the 10 percent organic growth. This…
Cox Zeros in on Cars
Last month, Cox Enterprises and Landmark Communications announced a reshuffling of the deck chairs, with Cox taking a more significant position in the "auto" related marketplaces and Landmark focusing on more niche or specialty oriented publications and Web sites. Cox…
Overscope in L.A.?
I don't normally read every scoping announcement Yellow Pages publishers issue via e-Linc, but a recent one caught my eye. Yellow Book announced that it is combining a Burbank book and a Glendale book and offering the market a wide-area…
Battle Over Baltimore
Last week 250,000 editions of The Baltimore Examiner were tossed to homes in and around the Baltimore area. That's right — The Baltimore Examiner not The Baltimore Sun. Interestingly, The Baltimore Sun — the 169-year-old incumbent newspaper — offers its…
Swift Approval
Last week, in Hempstead, New York, city bureaucrats voted to approve Verizon's application to build a competitive television distribution system. The final ruling was probably not ever in doubt given the intense lobbying effort being put forth by Verizon and…
More National Consolidation
Looks like two of the largest self storage companies — Public Storage and Shurgard — will be combining forces. Public Storage announced that it will be buying Shurgard for US$3 billion. The combined company will have 2,100 locations in 38…
Verizon Enters Nashville
Charles Laughlin pointed out an article from the Nashville Business Times about Verizon's entry into that market. Kathy Harless identified Nashville as one of the expansion markets at DDC '05 in her keynote address. Here is the article.
Coldplay Tickets, NFL Football, MTV
Recently I found myself "stuck" with some extra tickets for a Coldplay concert in Sacramento. So I did what everyone told me to do — put them up on Craigslist. Not a nibble. At the same time I posted the…
Smartphone Dilemma
The other day I was considering updating my old "candybar" cellphone. I went into the Sprint/Nextel retail store and began playing around with numerous new and advanced smartphones. I was all set to pull the trigger on buying a new…
More Free Weekly Classifieds
If you€™re in New York this summer and happen to be exiting one of many high-traffic transportation centers on a Thursday afternoon, you€™ll have a 1.9% chance of being handed a copy of the New York Times€™ new free classified…
Will Wireless Broadband Take Hold?
Verizon is heavily promoting its $60 per month wireless broadband offering. They claim to cover a population of 130 million. That is a lot more expensive than my high-speed cable connectivity I have at my office.I doubt I€™d switch from…
A Marriage Made in Heaven?
Having waited and waited to upgrade my cellphone technology and music listening experience, I read with considerable interest the hot rumors about the pending product launch of a new Motorola cellphone that comes loaded with iTunes software. With 2.5G and…
Power Shift in Hollywood
Last week the New York Times did pieces on the current state of the movie rental market and the state of movie going. Both thought-provoking articles offer views of the challenges industries built before the age of the Internet are…