Watching free videos on the Web is convenient and entertaining. But most viewers won't say the same about pre-roll video ads. Enter Solve Media. The ad tech company announced the launch of Pre-Roll Insurance today. The new technology prompts viewers…
Infogroup, a database marketing company, has acquired GoTime, a data management platform company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The entire GoTime staff will join Infogroup and relocate to a new Manhattan office. We spoke with Chief Data Officer…
Yesterday, we held a webcast to talk about the top 15 trends in local. These are the things we're paying most attention to on a daily basis, and as we build the content around the upcoming ILM East show. It's…
Yelp is IPOing today at $15 a share, allowing it to raise $123 million on a valuation of $900 million -- $400 million more than it was apparently offered by Google a couple of years ago. We know from the…
The giants of American commerce are now diving into the “local” space. American Express, MasterCard, Citibank are just some of the big brands entering local via SMB and national retailer relationships. FirstData, which processes secure transactions for 7,000 financial institutions…
Fifteen game-changing trends are happening right now in local media, and our analyst team discussed each one in today's webinar ahead of our ILM East conference. Here's the rundown: Curated commerce or the place where social, mobile and video intersect.…
Until recently, the European deal market was basically a year behind the U.S. But NimbleCommerce CEO Prashant Nedungadi argues that “they are beginning to catch up.” Nedungadi says they’ve graduated to more advanced platforms, and are more committed to driving…
MerchantCircle, which was sold to Reply.com in May 2011, continues to rethink the traditional Yellow Pages small-business model. The company today unveils a website that is less oriented toward directory listings, and more oriented -- it hopes -- toward winning…
It is a given in some circles that the next era of promotions will be driven by electronic wallets that perform transactions, manage deals and coupons, and target and engage loyal consumers. Google, American Express, MasterCard, LivingSocial, Groupon, AT&T, Microsoft…
One of the most common tasks users perform on AT&T Interactive's YP.com is browsing local eateries in search of a good meal. Thanks to a new partnership with NYC start-up SinglePlatform, this task becomes easier with the addition of local restaurant menus…
Local businesses don’t have their own loyalty programs but can now benefit from tapping into bank programs. “Local is the key to our strategy,” says Jim Douglass, SVP at Cartera, a Lexington, Massachusetts-based company that manages loyalty programs for many…
Headlines in the media world have been full of analysis about Barry Diller’s eight-figure investment in Aereo. Aereo plans to offer MDU (multiple dwelling unit) residents in New York City the chance to view their local, over-the-air TV stations over…
In a partnership with American Express, Twitter will roll out the self-serve ad platform it's been testing to 10,000 SMBs next month. It will enable SMBs to manage their marketing campaigns and budgets without sales representatives. Only SMBs that accept…
Yelp reviews are susceptible to a lot of noise -- relatives and friends of a business, mischief makers, people without any perspective (or taste). In fact, most review sites -- Trip Advisor, Zagat, etc. -- are affected by these factors.…
80 percent of respondents in a recent JiWire Q4 report state a preference for locally relevant ads over non-local advertising. The report examined three emerging trends in the location and mobile markets: response to location-based messaging, location specific shopping behaviors,…
Blinkx, a British video search company, will now power video search on AOL.com. Its video platform includes the ability to listen to the sound track using speech-to-text technology, look at the images on screen using advanced video analytics, and read…
ILM East keynoter Ted Leonsis, in a BIA/Kelsey pre-conference webinar, proclaimed a “new generation and reinvigoration of local products." The new opportunity in local is “where social, video and mobile intersect,” Leonsis said. What surprises Leonsis, who currently serves as…
By now, there isn't a single page of Facebook's S-1 filing that hasn't been exhaustively picked through and dissected in advance of the social network's spring IPO. But what about the metrics that were underreported or unreported altogether? Moreover, which…
ILM East is shaping up as a major landmark conference. Since our last update, we have many new “adds” to the agenda, and it looks like we’re going to have a really big and prestigious event. Even before it begins,…
It’s safe to say that Ted Leonsis is at the center of the local revolution. He’s done it all, from his early days trying to jump-start e-commerce at Redgate, to his work building a local framework at AOL (i.e., MapQuest,…
