Street Fight Daily: Google Wallet Leaking Money, Brand Networks Snags $68M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
Google Wallet Is Leaking Money (Businessweek)
Google Wallet, the mobile software that allows Android users to pay for purchases online and in stores with their phones, has become a money pit. The company has dedicated hundreds of developers to Wallet and spent about $300 million to acquire digital payment startups to help develop the app. But consumers aren’t sold.
Two (Big) Things Preventing Local TV’s Collapse (Street Fight)
Terry Heaton: The concept of network content distribution through local affiliates is being challenged by the Web. Local broadcasters are middlemen in the delivery of network content to the masses, and that was fine in a world absent horizontal connectivity. So it would be easy to assume downstream trouble for local broadcasters. But while there’s quite likely much of that ahead, it won’t totally kill the industry. There are two enormous roadblocks standing in the way.
Running Local: Why Facebook Marketer Brand Networks Just Snagged A $68 Million Round (Forbes)
Brand Networks, a company allows big brands go local through their franchisees, has just secured $68 million in growth financing from AEA Investors. The startup says it can help national names like a car dealership organization or quick serve restaurant group empower local franchises to use hyper-local Facebook offers for things like sales with some protections built in.
Openings & New Hires at Yext, Appstack, Local Market Launch, Intuit, and More… (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, Search Influence’s Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. Read about more hyperlocal execs on the move in this week’s Movers & Shakers column.
‘Uber For Local Home Services’ Provider ClubLocal Launches In The Bay Area (TechCrunch)
ReachLocal’s home services business unit ClubLocal is formally TechCrunch into its second market: San Francisco. ClubLocal works by connecting users with qualified, pre-vetted home service professionals, without having to search Yelp or the phone book or whatever people use these days when they need a plumber or an HVAC technician.
Real Estate Apps for Google Glass (New York Times)
Trulia, the real estate site, which this week introduced an app for Google Glass. It is one of only a handful of apps available for the Internet-connected glasses, and is an example of how local software developers are experimenting with the new device. Trulia’s app sends alerts for houses that the service thinks users want to see, whether because of criteria they have previously given Trulia or because of the types of houses in which they have shown interest.
Don’t Believe the Hype: Here’s What’s Wrong With the ‘Sharing Economy’ (TheNextWeb)
Milo Yiannopoulos: Airbnb is a great business, by some metrics, but what it offers is not “sharing”. Strictly speaking, it’s buy-to-let for short-term rents. Uber is the same: it may be making a market more efficient, but no one runs a cab because they’re an altruist. None of the car rental services are “sharing” either: they’re rental. You pay and you drive. If it doesn’t work, you call the company and complain. This is not sharing.
The Real Mobile Opportunity: Location Based Profiling (IAB)
Mark Prior: The bigger question, and opportunity, is what marketers can learn about consumers by observing the trends and patterns in geo-location data. Big data platforms can be used to draw conclusions from digital behaviour to create anonymous online profiles to drive better online campaign performance and more relevant advertising. Why not apply this same methodology to a similar, perhaps more insightful, dataset to optimise the performance of mobile campaigns?
LBMA Podcast: InMobi’s Piyush Shah on the Mobile Opportunity in China (Street Fight)
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan discuss TuneIn’s $25 million raise to get in your car; Royal Mail opens late so you can pick up your own mail; The Location Forum makes you pay for privacy guidelines; Bud + Blippar + Folds of Honor = amazing; iPourIt brings RFID to bars; ESRI starts licensing their data. Plus, eMarketer Canada offers insight into Canada’s location and mobile advertising landscape and special guest Piyush Shah of InMobi.
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