Yesterday, Idearc Media and Jingle Networks announced a partnership that counters AT&T’s foray into the free DA business with its 1-800-YellowPages product. According to yesterday’s announcement, Idearc’s performance-based advertisers will receive additional exposure to buyers via Jingle’s 1-800-FREE411 service.

It is a logical move for both parties, since the emergence of AT&T in the free DA space was a direct challenge to Jingle. The deal allows Idearc to match AT&T (and Yellowpages.com) by adding a DA channel for its advertisers. According to Jingle, the majority of 1-800-FREE411 users access the service via a mobile phone, which in a sense makes free DA a de facto mobile directory platform.

The emerging free DA market will be a session topic (“Free DA, Enhanced DA: Where Is the Winning Play for Publishers?”) at TKG’s Directory Driven Commerce 2007 conference, Sept. 17-19 in Reston, Virginia. For more on the conference, visit the DDC 2007 page.

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