Geolocation, Local and Mobile Advertising | Chris Tolles, Topix | iStrategy, Chicago

Geolocation, Local and Mobile:The #1 trend in 2010

Chris TollesCEOTopix

@tolles

Agenda

• Introductions

• What’s in it for me?

• Industry Overview

• Localized Online Advertising

• Takeaways

What is Topix?

• Topix is a platform for participation, built on top of zip-code-level local news aggregation

• Designed for real Americans

• Who are looking for honest, local talk online

Topix is the best place online for real, local conversations

Reach untapped, local audiences – nationwide on a single platform

Topix is local

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Internal Site Stats• 14.8 million unique visitors• 123 million pageviews• 125,000 comments/day

Source: Google Analytics, Jan – June ‘10

Third Party Stats• 7.877 million unique visitors• 52% female, 48% male• 35% HHI $75,000+• 69% are ages 18 – 49

Source: comScore, Media Metrix, June ‘10

Highlights• Top 10 newspaper web site• Local community, nationwide• Complementary audience to

traditional local media

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What’s in it for me?

The fastest-growing segments of online advertising are the local sector, anything targeted, and everything involving social media.

--Borrell Associates, Aug. 2010

Indeed, a steady shift toward digital media continues…. Spending on online/interactive media is projected to grow [a] CAGR of 19.3 percent.

--BIA/Kelsey Group, Feb. 2010

BIA/Kelsey Group Local Ad Forecast2009 - 2014

$115.0

$15.2 $36.7

$108.2

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All Local Media Online Local Media

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Online drives offline results

* Forrester, December 2009**Kelsey Group, March 2010

Online-influenced offline sales will reach $1.4 trillion by 2014*

Nearly all consumers (97 percent) now use online media

when researching products or services in their local area**

Audiences are Tuning in Differently

Mobile Internet Ramping Faster than Desktop Internet Did

Source: Morgan Stanley

Mobile Will Be Bigger Than Desktop Internet in 5 Years

Source: Morgan Stanley

40% of US Adults now surf the web on their smartphone**Source: Pew Research Center, July 2010

Topix Mobile Pageviews Confirm This

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Who Should Care Today?

• If you want to understand the latest trends in local, geo-location and mobile marketing

• If you need to drive offline purchases & behavior

• If you have regionally differentiated products

• If your message needs to be localized

Geolocation Applications

• $100M in funding at a $475M valuation (Jan 2010)• 38M unique users; 12M user generated reviews• Added mobile “check in” feature (Jan 2010)• Added “Daily Deals” feature (Aug 2010)

• $8.4M in funding (Dec 2009)• 350K users• Named one of Time Magazines “50 Best Websites”

(August 2010)

• $20M in funding at a $95M valuation (June 2010)• 3M users, 1M badges, 100M “check ins”• 15K venues offering “specials

According to Skyhook Wireless, there are more than 6,400 location-aware iphone apps

Foursquare is Popularizing Geolocation

Lots of Local Players

• Partnerships with Travel Channel and H&M (virtual goods)

• 3M users (up from 500k in Jan, 130k new users a week,)

• Averages 70 minutes of playtime per user per day

• Presence for 1.1M online local merchants• Backed by IAC

• 100M comments from 20,000 towns and cities across US• 7.8M unique users (Top 10 online newspaper site)• Backed by Gannett, Tribune and McClatchy

• Presence in 88 cities; 22 countries

• $135M in Series C funding with $1.35 billion valuation in April 2010

• 13 million subscribers

Innovation & investment

• AOL & Patch• Acquired for $7 million in June 2009 • Invested $50M in April 2010• As of August, launched more than 100 communities; 400

more in next 6 months

• Yahoo & Associated Content• Acquired in May 2010 for a rumored $100 million• Thousands of contributors to cover local content

• SimpleGEO company indexing 1M+ locations per hour – launching Fall 2010

• Facebook launched Places August 18• 500M active users; 150M access the site via mobile device• The day after launch, FourSquare had it’s biggest check-in

day ever

Geo-targeting Delivers Best ROI

Local ads in a local context are 4X more effective*

* Mindshare Interactive Sprint case study

Consumers Trust ads on Local Media Sites

Source: Online Publishers Association Local Media: From Advertising to Action, August 2008

Advertising on Local Sites Generates Action

Online Maps Help Customers Find Your Product

Dynamic Local Advertising: Great for Automotive

YuMe

Placecast

Put National Campaigns in a Local Context

Topix localized Pep Boys’ ad creative for 573 locations in 35 states

Geo-localization Examples: Sunday Circular

Local Communities Drive National Revenue

$68,000 in teeth whitening – in one day

Mobile: As Local as it gets

Customer service as marketing Direct consumers to purchaseDirect consumers to purchase

Takeaways

• Local Online increasing over next 5 years

• Mobile usage is here today -- and getting bigger

• Geolocation is driving awareness of all local online

• Local audiences + local context 4X more efficient

Everybody online lives somewhere

Thank you!

Contact Info:Chris Tolles, CEOTopixtolles@topix.com@tolles