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.”
DGA Feature Nominees: Audiard, Baker, Berger, Corbet and Mangold
The field of feature nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards spanning two categories is set. Nominated for the DGA honor for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2024 are: Jacques Audiard for Emilia Pérez, Sean Baker for Anora, Edward Berger for Conclave, Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, and James Mangold for A Complete Unknown.
The DGA also revealed the nominees for the Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film. The first-time narrative feature directors are: Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light, Megan Park for My Old Ass, RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys, Halfdan Ullman Tondel for Armand, and Sean Wang for Diddy.
“2024 has been a truly extraordinary year for storytelling--and today’s nominees have created audacious and unique films that expand the possibilities of cinematic excellence,” said DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter. “I am thrilled to congratulate all our nominated directors for their brilliant work, which is visionary, inspirational and speaks to the depth of the human experience. To be chosen by one’s peers is the true marker of outstanding directorial achievement and what makes these nominations so very special.”
The winners will be announced at the 77th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 8.
Here’s a fuller rundown of the nominees in both DGA Award categories:
THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2024 (in alphabetical order):
JACQUES AUDIARD
Emilia Pérez
(Netflix)
SEAN... Read More