To round out the afternoon of Day 1 of our ILM West Conference, a heavy hitter roster of local media veterans defined the current state of local media ad sales. The short answer: We're in the midst of lots of…
“You used to have a screenplay but now you have an app,” joked Elizabeth Osder, a leading veteran content developer and strategist , during an interview on startup principles today at ILM West in Los Angeles. “The barriers to entry…
Building ecommerce, promotions, search, social and same day delivery services around store inventory is one of those high concept "local" concepts that always make so much sense but have been tough to build around. Intuit and eBay have both purchased…
Today we release the first in a series of local forecasts across BIA/Kelsey's local media coverage areas. The first out of the gate is mobile, a sector whose collision with local continues to receive lots of innovation and investment. Here…
Hurricane Sandy forced millions of North-easterners out of their travel routines, closing down regular transit routes and services. It also spurred a boomlet in online and mobile searches for alternative transit, as well as weather. HopStop, a 20 person, four-year-old…
For many of us, the Marchex story has been a difficult one to understand. But now the fog is lifting. Today, Marchex announced it is pursuing a split into two companies. The move spins off the company's domains and clicksbusiness…
One clearly emerging theme from our mobile local coverage is the collision of Big Data and local. Every week I get in more conversations with startups working to improve location data or mobile device signals to target ads. Much of…
Throw out the pyramid and the funnel. The pretzel is the new paradigm for mobile-driven retail, according to panelists at the OMMA Mobile M Commerce event Oct. 22 in Los Angeles. The age-old pyramid and funnel concepts have been driven…
Increasingly, a lot of the mobile discussion is oriented towards ecommerce. But what does a major vertical site do with mobile when it doesn’t sell anything online? AutoTrader, the leading auto site, doesn’t sell cars online. “We basically sell advertising,”…
American Express is seeking to move beyond its narrow image as a blue chip premium credit card company, and open the doors to new business opportunities, customers and revenues. Its ticket? The group of emerging payment products and services --…
I've spent some time over the past month talking with Cambridge MA based ByteLight in advance of its launch and $1.25 million funding announcement this week. The company has a novel advancement in the indoor positioning space we've been covering. As…
Last week, I had a long-overdue conversation with Placed CEO David Shim, in advance of the company's Placed Panels launch yesterday (more on that in a bit). This is part of our ongoing dialogues with companies in the emerging location…
In all the excitement over the iPhone5 and iOS6, we've covered a few of its main points here including the mobile local angle, Maps Snafu, and its implications for app developers. On all counts, we're releasing a report this week…
Telmetrics and xAd are out with the third installment of their Mobile Mobile Path to Purchase report administered by Nielsen. As the first two reports focused on travel and overall results, this one looks at consumer mobile habits around finding…
I am here in Boston having just finished giving a lunchtime talk on mobile commerce to the Outdoor Industry Association, gathered here for its annual Rendezvous conference, which has drawn more than 350 outdoor retailers and manufacturers. They are offering…
Tobias Dengel is CEO of WillowTree Apps Inc., a mobile applications developer. He is also a BIA/Kelsey blog contributor, and will be posting regularly on mobile-related topics. The views he expresses are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of…
That headline will get some pushback as AT&T has received less than desirable consumer feedback for wireless, telecom and U-Verse service. But the company is taking steps to improve that image -- at least if my recent experience is any indication. After…
One of the most promising concepts in local are “Write Once, Publish Everywhere” platforms for SMBs. With local businesses needing to communicate more and more deals, new features and special events to their customers, it makes sense to get them…
Before too many days pass in travel recovery mode, I wanted to get some of my thoughts down from BIA/Kelsey's sessions at the EASDP Congress in Toledo Spain on Friday. As background, we programmed and ran the second day of…
The consortium of 12 major newspaper companies that last year purchased Travidia, a digital circular vendor, has relaunched as Wanderful Media. The consortium, previously known as ShopCo., has committed $22 Million to the venture. It has also introduced a new…
