News and Analysis

Cedato Releases Contextual Programmatic Video Targeting Tool For the GDPR Era

The machine learning-based tool, branded as Contextual Lookalike Targeting technology, relies on successful patterns of past video marketing campaigns (hence: contextual lookalike) to deliver future campaigns at ideal times and places based on an advertiser’s preferred KPIs.

Google Updates Search to Recommend Local Events Based on User Interests

Google is bringing the personalization zeitgeist to local event recommendations. The company reported on its blog Thursday that it is releasing a series of new features that will make it easier for users to find essential information about events of interest to them right on search engine result pages.

Raise Report: SessionM, Perch, Pointy Secure New Funding

Every two or three weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for Mention Me, Standard Cognition, Cogito, and Dialpad.

Commentary

Could Patch Find New Life as a SaaS Platform for Local Publishers?

At this point, the best path forward for Armstrong to realize his noble goal of delivering high-quality community news might just be to simply throw open the gates and recast Patch as a publishing platform for small and medium-sized publishers…

Mobile Local Media: The State of the Union

The end of the year is upon us and that means top ten lists, year-in-reviews, and predictions galore. Sort of in that spirit but a slightly different format, I’ve been organizing the way I look at the mobile local world into a few buckets. So as this month’s column, here’s my state of the union in mobile local media…

How Hyperlocal Publishers Can Leverage Native Ads

Depending on your perspective, so-called “native advertising” is either a bold new frontier or the re-naming of a tried and true form of advertising — the advertorial. But either way, it is a tool that should be in the kit of every hyperlocal publisher because native ads can deliver content from the native (local) perspective that hyperlocals share with their readers…

Latest Posts

Yelp Cashes In on YP Partnership — If Only for the Moment

The company posted stronger-than-expected revenues Tuesday, but cautious guidance sent shares tumbling in after-hours trading. The revenue increase appears to have come, in part, from a partnership with YP that the company made earlier this year…

Angie’s List Reports Wider-Than-Expected Loss, Stock Tanks

The company reported the addition of 350,376 gross paid memberships during the period, down six percent from the third quarter of 2013. Its stock price fell more than 17% percent on Wednesday, continuing an 18-month drop…

With Carrier Data, Vistar Media Finds Foothold in Mobile Ad Fray

Vistar, a digital out-of-home startup, wants to use carrier data to map consumer behavior in the real world. Through a partnership with AirSage, Vistar has developed a system which it says can allow marketers to analyze where nearly 110 million of consumers live, work and shop in an anonymized and privacy-sensitive way…

Wooing Restuarants, Retail Software Startup LightSpeed Buys POSIOS

Point-of-sale startup Lightspeed said Wednesday it has purchased a belgian competitor, POSIOS, to help the firm enter the food service vertical and expand internationally. The deal underscores the potential for consolidation within a small business software segment that has seen an intense influx of capital and redrawing of product lines…

Street Fight Daily: Apple Opens Listings, Yelp Adds Hotel Bookings

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Apple Launches “Maps Connect,” Self-Service Local Listings Portal (Search Engine Land)… Yelp Leaps Into Hotel Bookings With New Hipmunk Partnership (Skift)… Uber Drivers Across The Country Are Protesting Today — Here’s Why (Business Insider)…

Gannett Papers Evolve to Avoid Becoming Publishing’s ‘Buggy Whips’

In the news media’s digitally focused 21st century, newspapers are often dismissed as an “industrial-age” product. But it’s not clear that they’ll become what whale oil was to the 19th century’s petroleum . For a macro-look at how this is playing out at Gannett, we caught up with the media giant’s SVP for News, Kate Marymont…

Making the Case for Ambient Services (Again)

The excitement around ambient services has faded as Highlight and others have failed to gain traction. But in many ways the ambient services that failed in 2011 and 2013 are poised for a comeback. Within the next few years, the technology will be in place to make these long sought-after scenarios a reality…

Street Fight Daily: Search’s Mobile Problem, Square Eyes Back-Office

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… First Half Ad Revenue: Search Dominates PC Ads But Not Mobile (Search Engine Land)… Square Testing New Payroll Product as Ambition Grows (Recode)… Gannett Earnings Strong, But Publishing Revenues Continue A Steep Slide (Poynter)…

5 Influential Products That Helped Define Local Tech

The local industry has yielded a bevy of popular products. Some have survived while others have faded into the background, but the industry continues to merit the hype. Here we take a look at the five best products in local tech over the past few years…

Six Months After Spin-Off, Gimbal Continues to Grow

It’s been a busy few months for Gimbal, the beacon company formerly owned by Qualcomm. After being spun off from the tech giant in May, the company went on a hiring spree, bringing its team to more than 30 employees. Then earlier this month, the company entered into its first big partnership with push notification company Urban Airship…