Given the challenges facing pure-play daily deal companies (and the saturation of news stories chronicling their issues), a casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that the deals space is experiencing a major downturn. Recent studies, however, suggest a more bullish outlook for deals in 2013...

Many local media companies have not structured their daily deals programs appropriately or put the necessary resources behind them. While there is no silver bullet to guaranteed deals success, we have used our experience working with more than 400 local media companies to develop a model that breaks down the five most important factors to creating a successful deals program...

Pundits have been quick to predict the demise of daily deals following the recent news that Facebook and Yelp have scaled back their entries into the market, and that Groupon has delayed its IPO. Rather than buy into this hype, local media need to view this moment as an opportunity to double down and consolidate their positions to capitalize on this important new revenue stream...