Idearc Media Corp./Dallas, publisher of the Verizon Yellow Pages and www.Superpages.com, has introduced a video platform that will enable small and medium-size businesses to play video ads at the Superpages website. The program is available on a beta basis in the Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco markets with a nationwide launch planned for later this year, according to Robyn Rose, VP of marketing at Idearc.
Idearc will use local production companies to make the videos and charge the businesses about $1,000. They’ll pay to play the videos on a cost-per-click or cost-per-call basis.
Thirty or 60 second video ads will be produced at merchant locations. Idearc is calling them “documercials,” because “they’re not traditional commercials,” Rose said. “They’re videos of the owner or the manager of the business explaining the benefits of the business.”
Superpages.com is a search site with users typing in a category and geographic location to find business names. Advertisers who pay the most for their clicks or calls will have their listings appear first. “The higher you bid, the more frequently the ad will appear in the category,” said Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Marketing Intelligence/San Francisco. Rose said the service works like Google, except the premium listings appear in the middle of the page, not to the right.
Superpages syndicates its content to other sites, including MSN, Google and Yahoo, so the video ads it plays are distributed to other sites.
The service will enable small and mid-size businesses to include video advertising in their online phone listings. “A lot of small businesses have expressesd interest in video advertising on cable TV. We want to make sure they have the ability to do it online,” Rose said.
Sterling said Citysearch, a local search site that competes with Superpages, also offers video ads. But the site is geared to bar and restaurant listings, while Superpages covers more categories.
Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, Williamsburg, VA, a research firm that has projected the growth of local video advertising, said Idearc’s new service is part of a growing trend. “All the traditional media companies with deep assets–newspapers, radio stations, TV stations and yellow pages are rushing in,” he said. “The yellow pages are protecting their business by offering opportunities for video advertising. It’s similar to what the other media are doing.”
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More