BIA, which is Kelsey’s parent company, works closely with radio station groups and other traditional media players in finance, operations and strategy. Mark Fratrik has been watching Google's efforts in radio sales (“Google Audio Ads”) from the inside. In the aftermath of…
Weeks after its decision to abandon its Print Ads program, Google has done the same with its sister program for radio ads. Both programs offered ad buying capability in their respective media, through Google's AdWords online ad platform. The company…
Google announced earlier this week that it will offer a search box to mobile Web publishers to plant on their sites and share revenues from search results. This will be an extension of the existing AdSense for Mobile program. Overall,…
Google, as part of a series of cutbacks, is eliminating its Print Ads program, which had 800 newspapers and other print sources participating. The program, which began in November 2006 with 50 newspaper partners, stops selling new placement Feb. 28.…
We’ve just announced the lineup for our Marketplaces 2009 conference, which is March 16-18 at the historic (and excellent) Century Plaza in L.A. We hope you find it as compelling as we do. It is probably a “must attend” event by any…
We’re out with our predictions for 2009. But what’s the final word for 2008? Truly, it was a very stimulating and thoughtful year for our local media and commerce industry. But speaking for myself, it’s hard to say whether it…
Local mobile portals make a lot of sense since most phones (even the iPhone 3G) don’t really lend themselves to much surfing. Another social/viral dimension is added through social networking enhancements via profile pages, Twitter and especially GPS. Two services seem…
Hyperlocal sites aspire to grab headlines from everywhere and be a one-stop for the neighborhood. That’s been accepted practice, providing the site links back to the origination site, and too much copy isn’t exposed. It tends to build traffic for everyone.…
Realtors are a vocal bunch, especially on the blogs. When something isn’t right, you really hear about it. Today, there was a bubbly post on Active Rain, an excellent real estate community site, by Missy Caulk, an Ann Arbor Realtor.…
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…
The Google personalized search developments that we wrote about in July have been launched.
This morning's session at ILM:08 on Leveraging Traditional Media Online was an eye-opener in many respects. It was striking, for example, how aggressively NBC is embracing the idea of following the audience wherever it can get its attention -- at…
Citysearch has just completed a full revamp of its product and strategy that it hopes will position it in the long-term battle for local. Elements of the revamp include a more intuitive interface, an embrace of social media, a major…
Google announced today that it has decided to walk away from its ad partnership with Yahoo, citing that legal battles with federal antitrust regulators won't make it worthwhile to pursue. The deal would have placed Google text ads throughout Yahoo's…
Spot Runner announced that it is laying off 115 people, or less than 30 percent of its staff. It confirmed that a big chunk of the layoffs are coming from its local sales division, formerly known as Weblistic. Company officials say…
Press releases are rich in content -- richer than most ads. Many local events, businesses and services routinely write them. But they often don’t get past the “about us” sections on their own Web sites. The releases aren’t easily found,…
We’re just about ready to go with Interactive Local Media 2008, which is Nov. 19-21 in Santa Clara, in the heart of Silicon Valley. It should be a very important, game-defining event -- and the first one for The Kelsey…
OK, we’ve got the format(s) and “best and brightest” speaker roster set for Interactive Local Media: Extending Local Channels, which is Nov. 19-21 in Santa Clara, California, next to San Jose. At the top of the list is Angie Hicks,…
After more than a year of speculation about a "GPhone," the Google-powered G1 phone was unveiled today in New York. As we reported last month, this will be a T-Mobile phone (built by HTC), and it will be available to…
My brother recently had a "vertical experience" in the Disneyland "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror." A 150-foot drop in a rickety old elevator. Three times, in fact. But Disney's vertical engineering legerdemain is less ambitious than that of the diverse…
