Stations Seen Winning With Localism

BIA/Kelsey released its top five trends and industry developments to watch in 2010 in interactive local media, mobile local media, broadcast, global Yellow Pages and vertical directories and classifieds.

• Broadcasters win with localism — Local broadcasters have three incredibly valuable assets: local brands, local content and local sales forces; creative broadcasters will bring these assets together in compelling business models.
• The return of a competitive search market — The next two years will fundamentally alter the local media market landscape, based on the thesis that the economic implosion over the past year and a half will irrevocably change advertiser behavior.
• Location, location, location — The mix of technology, usage and advertiser trends will further define the pace and change of mobile media and affirm the core role mobile will play in the $140 billion local media industry. Location and geo-targeted advertising will represent a long-elusive revenue stream for Twitter and for third parties that mash up Twitter streams and location data. Also expect Facebook to integrate automatic location detection into the status updates that have become central to its user experience.
• Mobile monetization takes hold — Look for publishers to begin testing discrete monetization paths -- from discrete landing pages to pay per call -- for their mobile search products.
• Newfangled ad networks begin to monetize hyperlocal — Vertical ad networks hold a great deal of promise.