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August 21, 2007
U.S. Ad-Sponsored Directory
Assistance Revenues to Reach $462 Million Annually by 2012, According
to The Kelsey Group
Industry executives
to consider the role of ‘Free DA’ in the future of Yellow
Pages at upcoming Directory Driven Commerce 2007 conference
Princeton, NJ (August 21, 2007) --
Annual U.S. revenues for advertiser-sponsored directory assistance,
also referred to as free DA, will grow from $14 million in 2007
to $462 million in 2012, according to The Kelsey Group, the leading
provider of strategic research and analysis, data and competitive
metrics on Yellow Pages, electronic directories and local media.
Free DA enables a consumer to dial a specific number for directory
assistance and other local information at no charge in exchange
for listening to an ad.
“We anticipate ad-sponsored directory assistance
will morph into an audio ad business and a wireless play,”
said Matt Booth, senior vice president and program director, Interactive
Local Media, The Kelsey Group. “The combination of audio ads
and wireless pay-per-call and text ads will drive superior per-call
economics over time.”
A panel of executives from the free DA industry
will discuss its role in the future of the Yellow Pages business
during The Kelsey Group’s Directory Driven Commerce 2007 conference.
DDC2007: The Future of Yellow Pages will be held Sept. 17-19 at
the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia. On Day 2 of the conference,
a session titled “Free DA, Enhanced DA: Where Is the Winning
Play for Publishers?” will feature James Geddes Jr., president,
chief executive officer and founder, America Say Hello; Dipanshu
Sharma, founder and chief technology officer, V-Enable; Mark McCormack,
vice president of marketing and strategy, Call Genie; and John Roswech,
senior vice president of sales, 1-800-FREE411. This panel of experts
will consider such key issues as compatibility of this business
with existing assets and how meaningful DA will become as a source
of revenues and of value for advertisers.
“Increasingly, telecoms, directory publishers
and search engines are getting into the directory assistance business,
particularly in the mobile arena,” said Charles Laughlin,
senior vice president and program director, The Kelsey Report®,
and managing editor, The Kelsey Group. “We anticipate a lively
discussion about the future of free DA at DDC2007.”
The Kelsey Group’s annual Yellow Pages conference
is recognized as the objective and definitive event on the future
of this high-margin global industry. The program encourages audience
interaction and features 50 speakers who will participate through
presentations, one-on-one interviews, panel discussions and research
sessions. Keynote speakers include recently added Warren Kay, managing
director, strategic alliances, Yahoo!; Geneviève LeBrun,
vice president, marketing, Trader Corp.; and Scott Pomeroy, president
and CEO, Local Insight Media. In addition, the program will feature
a live one-on-one interview with Kathy Hipple, CEO, Ambassador Media
Group.
Association partners for DDC2007 include Association
of Directory Marketing (ADM), Association of Directory Publishers
(ADP), International Classified Media Association (ICMA), Search
Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) and Yellow Pages
Association (YPA). Conference sponsors include Acxiom, AgendiZe,
Amdocs, Call Genie, eStara, i411, Idearc Media, Ingenio, Local Matters,
Local.com, Localeze, LSSi, Marchex, Mixpo, Telmetrics and Web.com.
For more information about DDC2007, visit www.kelseygroup.com/DDC2007.
About The Kelsey Group
The Kelsey Group is the leading provider of research, data and strategic
analysis on directories, small-business advertising and online local
media. Founded in 1986, the company has built a reputation as the
premier analyst firm covering the directory publishing community
and the emerging local search marketplace, providing advisory services
(The Kelsey Report® and Interactive Local Media), publishing
(Global Yellow Pages™), consulting (more than 400 individual
assignments) and conferences (68 events).
For more information contact:
Eileen Pacheco
eileen@tango-group.com
(781) 556-1026
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