Street Fight Daily: New York Times Enters Food Delivery, Yelp’s Plans for Growth
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
New York Times Goes for Literal Snackable Content with Meal Delivery (Mashable)
The New York Times has partnered with a meal delivery startup to launch a service through its NYT Cooking section, which allows users to order food individually or as part of a subscription. This is the most recent in a series of experiments from the Times — it has also tried an online store and expanded its events business.
More Than 146 Million People Have Used Yelp This Year (Eater)
Yelp will be increasing its sales force to go toe-to-toe with other companies looking to get in the online review space, specifically Google and Facebook. Yelp’s Q1 net revenue was $158.6 million, thanks in large part to local ad sales. Though 146 million users accessed Yelp via its website in the first quarter, the biggest point of pride for the company appears to be the increasing number of mobile users.
Openings and New Hires at Empyr, Matchcraft, xAd, and CBS Local (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in hyperlocal. This week’s edition includes moves at YP, Promoboxx, and Search Influence.
Drawbridge Raises $25M As It Takes Its Cross-Device Tech Beyond Advertising (TechCrunch)
Drawbridge, a startup that helps businesses identify when a single person is using multiple devices, has raised $25 million in Series C funding, allowing the company to expand beyond ad tech. Drawbridge was one of the first to work on a cross-device graph for advertisers to target consumers across laptops, phones, tablets, and more, and now it’s offering this technology to non-advertising customers.
Raise Report: New Funding for Via, Drivy, Home Chef (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes new cash infusions for Unlockd, Trov, and Passport.
Why Facebook Messenger Bots Haven’t Caught On with Publishers (Digiday)
A Messenger bot “sounds like something fun with which to experiment — but it will not immediately change our core focus at the moment,” said Bryan Goldberg, founder of Bustle. “Facebook Live is a massive initiative that is going to require substantial resources and focus on the part of digital publishers. Such media companies would be wise to focus almost entirely on their core publishing operations and Facebook Live.”
Uber, the Startup Steroid Era, and the Use of Capital as a Performance-Enhancing Drug (Observer)
Simon Rothman: The start of 2016 marked the end of the steroid era of startups — the time between 2010 and 2015 when money was cheap and more plentiful and was used as a performance-enhancing drug for company acceleration. No question, venture money has always been used to accelerate company building. But this was different. Cash was able to singlehandedly drive scale and growth.
Internet of Things Has the Potential to Transform the Consumer Products Industry (eMarketer)
Whether it’s monitoring the supply chain, tracking how products are used, or gaining more insight into shopper preferences, the IoT is ushering in an era in which “smart” things can seamlessly collect, share, and analyze real-time data. In turn, this data can be used to personalize consumer experiences and deliver proactive services.
On-Demand May Not Be Future of Online Delivery (Chain Store Age)
An increasing number of retailers and third-party providers are offering delivery of online orders same-day or even within an hour, but not every expert sees this model as where online delivery is headed. “On-demand is not a proven delivery service,” said uShip’s Dick Metzler. “It’s hard to see how you can work on-demand, zig-zagging across a market for $5 per order. As VC money starts to dry up, it will become tougher and tougher to make that model work.”
Square’s Loss Widens as Operating Expenses Surge (Wall Street Journal)
Square posted a wider-than-expected loss for its first quarter, reporting rising expenses and setting aside $50 million to help resolve a long-running legal dispute. (Subscription required)
Most People Aren’t Willing to Pay Even $1 Per Year to Block Mobile Ads (Business Insider)
Tune, a company that measures and analyzes user behavior in mobile apps, surveyed nearly 4,000 smartphone users in January 2016, asking how much they’d pay to block ads. Only about 30 percent would pay anything, and most would pay less than $1 a week.
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