Johnston Press plc, one of the U.K.’s leading regional media groups announced on July 20 the appointment of Kjell Aamot as non-executive director of the company with effect from Aug. 1. Read the rest of this entry »

While Facebook and Twitter can be used to engage with your existing readers, advertisers, customers,  media, and other stakeholders, neither are good resources for business to business leads, according to the latest study by B2B marketing automation provider LeadForce1.

The study of 261 LeadForce1 business clients determined that LinkedIn and Wikipedia were the top social sources for business leads. Twitter, Facebook, Squidoo, Stumbleupon and Delicious significantly contributed to site traffic, however.

Other findings: Read the rest of this entry »

AVV.com just relaunched, offering new and improved lead generation for auto dealers. An offshoot of Dominion Enterprises’ Dominion Dealer Solutions, AVV focuses on three dealer-assisting products: Web Control lead CRM, WebResponse for e-mail and WebTalk click to talk functionality. Auto vertical publishers would do well to compare their own auto vertical’s dealer services with what Dominion offers.

Auto dealers can link directly to WebControl via their sign in on the AVV home page, and manage their leads in Web Control.   AVV.com and AVV Web Control are now linked.  Product  updates and company information can be accessed from the AVV site, blog or Facebook and Twitter integrations. Read the rest of this entry »

Autoscout24 and ParuVendu.fr have both announced new mobile applications.

“AutoScout to go” was launched as an iPhone app back in May 2009 since when it has been downloaded 400,000 times.  That success has prompted the company to release an Android version in English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.

Read the rest of this entry »

The classified section of German city portal Meinestadt.de now integrates ads from EBay’s German classified site EBay Kleinanzeigen.

“With EBay Kleinanzeigen we have won a famous partner with whom we can complement our existing offer of classifieds,” said Dirk Habermann, manager of Cooperations at Meinestadt. “Both portals are for free and target mainly private users at a regional level.”

Tim Hilpert, GM at EBay Kleinanzeigen, added: “That’s why we go so well together. We also offer our users an even larger reach thanks to the cooperation with Meinestadt.”

For now only EBay ads are to be found on Meinestadt.de and not the other way around. There are plans to integrate the Meinestadt classifieds on EBay as well, but the companies can’t give further details on when this is going to happen.

Earlier this year CIR reported about a planned cooperation between Alma Media Corporation and business development company Arena Partners Oy, owned jointly by five newspaper publishers operating in Central Finland.

The deal has now been approved by the Finnish Competition Authority. Read the rest of this entry »

A study by Jeevansathi.com, India’s fastest growing matrimonial site shows run by Noida-Uttar Pradesh-based Info Edge (India) Ltd, reveals there are a considerable number of single/divorced/ widowed Indian women who are open to start their life afresh at the age of 50 and above.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gannett Co. Inc. reported that classified revenues in the U.S. and U.K. fared better in the second quarter over the first quarter – but were down when compared to year-over figures. The bright spot: digital revenues, lifted in part by CareerBuilder, of which Gannett is majority owner.

Gannett reported that U.S. classified revenues declined 3 percent in Q2 2010, compared with the same quarter of 2009, while U.K. classified revenues were down 6.8 percent in the company’s Newsquest operations. Taken as an average, Gannett reported a year-over decline of 5 percent in classified revenues.

Breaking it down by segment, U.S. and U.K. automotive was up 2.5 percent for the quarter. Recruitment on the two continents was off 2.5 percent and real estate sank – down 10.5 percent from 2009, which back then was in the throes of recession. The company said the impact of the currency was partly to blame: automotive would have been up 3.1 percent; recruitment and real estate would have declined 1 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively.

All that said, U.S. and U.K. classifieds revenues were better than Q1 revenues by about 6 percent.

On the most positive note, Gannett’s digital segment — CareerBuilder, PointRoll, ShopLocal, Planet Discover, Schedule Star and Ripple6 – was up 8.3 percent on the year, to $154.1 million.

The company’s news release said the increase “reflects mid-single digit revenue growth at CareerBuilder; the first quarter of revenue growth at CareerBuilder since 2008’s fourth quarter.”

CareerBuilder’s North American network revenue in Q2 2010 was $139 million, up 5 percent from Q1 2010 and up 3 percent from Q2 2009, according to a CareerBuilder spokesperson.

Gannett also said PointRoll and ShopLocal reported “double-digit” growth.

Company-wide digital revenues were $252.2 million for the quarter, up 9.7 percent from Q2 2009 – and almost 19 percent of total operating revenues.

Gannett is joining Yahoo’s family of media affiliates in an agreement that brings Gannett’s U.S. publishing, Web and broadcasting properties into Yahoo’s vast local-ad network.

As part of the agreement, all of Gannett’s 81 publishing titles, its websites and seven of its broadcasting sites will sell Yahoo inventory as part of their local advertising mix. As other media groups enjoy – Hearst, Media General, MediaNews, Cox, Belo Corp., Lee Enterprise and E.W. Scripps, among others —  the deal gives Gannett’s local advertisers access to Yahoo’s APT ad-ordering capabilities, behaviorally and demographically targeted ads.

A news release from the two companies said the deal would “extend Gannett’s local media organization reach to cover as much as 80 percent of the total digital audience in each market.”

“This partnership builds on the strength of Gannett’s growing digital business and powerful local brands,” says Gracia Martore, president, COO and CFO of Gannett. “Working with Yahoo will allow us to offer targeted advertising messages with unmatched local audience reach.”

Gannett may also provide news and feature content across Yahoo properties. Rollout will begin in this quarter and continue into 2011.

“Local advertising continues to be an important area of focus for us, and Yahoo is committed to helping local businesses reach high quality target audiences,” said Hilary Schneider, EVP of Yahoo Americas. “This partnership significantly expands our local offering and gives advertisers the technology and scale they need to reach online consumers.”

A San Diego company is launching software that allows Blackberry users to send banner advertising with SMS text messages to any mobile phone or device.

The just-launched TexTango software is working through it’s alpha phase with three charities as its advertisers — UNICEF, Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego and America’s Toothfairy Dental Home Program. People who sign up to send the advertising with their messages are being compensated with entries in a contest in which they could win a 2010 Smart car and other prizes. Read the rest of this entry »

Stepstone’s CEO Colin Tenwick and CFO Ian Cole have left the company as a direct consequence of the sale of StepStone’s software division Stepstone Solutions to European private equity investor HgCapital for a purchase price of EUR110 million, a deal that was completed in May this year. Read the rest of this entry »