ILM East is coming back to Boston March 26-28 with a lineup of doers and innovators who are transforming and redefining the local space. Highlights include a featured keynote from industry legend Ted Leonsis (Groupon vice chair/AmEx board member/sports team owner/AOL mastermind), along with keynotes/interviews from Jason Calacanis, Leslie Berland, Jay Herratti, Michael Zimbalist and …

The decline of newspaper readership opens a door for other media to head the news cycle, with everything else trickling down to the TV and radio stations and websites that feed off the original content.
That’s the premise for GoLocal24, a local news and lifestyle content company that started with a website and broadcast partnerships in …

Matchbin has spent $10 million to acquire 800 radio and TV accounts from Navteq’s Radio and TV Group (formely Traffic.com). It has also raised $12 million for working assets from Silicon Valley Bank, and is rebranding the combined entity as Radiate Media. The money to acquire the Navteq broadcaster accounts came from Level Equity, Greycroft …

The news came over the wires this weekend  that Bob Pittman has been named as the new CEO for radio and outdoor giant Clear Channel Communications. Pittman, who is the opening keynoter at ILM West Dec. 12 in San Francisco, steps up from Chairman, Entertainment and Media Platforms.  Pittman is the first CEO of Clear …

While this news has been out for a little while, we thought it was interesting that a company with powerful TV assets would initiate a deal with a company that provides high-quality, affordable video commercial content for local advertisers. After all, isn’t this what TV has been doing since the ’40s. What gives?
Anyone who’s ever …

Gannett has now publicly announced that it has expanded its DealChicken platform to 10 to 15 markets, and will be in 57 markets where it has newspapers and/or TV stations.
The company obviously enters a crowded marketplace, but will likely become an immediate contender for several reasons. These include the strength of its local media outlets, …

Research recently reported in Scientific American shows that work by Gregory Berns of Emory University supports the conclusion that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of brain activity while listening to music produce data that can predict subsequent sales. In particular, Berns isolated a portion of the brain called the nucleus accumbens whose activity in 27 …

A headline in a recent Broadcasting and Cable newsletter suggested that the cable upfront appears to be ready to surpass the broadcast market’s recent $9 billion plus take from advertisers. Estimates for the cable upfront seem to be focusing in at around $9.4 billion.
While this would be a first, should this really be a surprise? 
Broadcast’s …

People tend to want to hear the good news first, but let’s start with the opposite.
As we near the halfway point of the year, reports from the local radio industry reveal that growth has slowed more than expected. BIA/Kelsey now expects over-the-air local radio revenues to grow only 3.4 percent, down from 5.4 percent growth …

Voices Heard Media, a company that builds tools to embed onto several mobile and social platforms, announced improvements to EventBox this week. EventBox is part of a suite of embeddable apps designed to increase audience engagement. CEO Will Overstreet says he got the idea for the app from his experiences as a former NFL player …

The session Spectrum: The Air We Breathe at the NAB Convention last week examined the issue of the proposed incentive auction for some of the spectrum now used by local TV stations. The question-and-answer format between the audience and my fellow panelists — Bill Lake (FCC), Alan Frank (Post-Newsweek), John Hane (Pillsbury Winthrop) and Jane …

BIA/Kelsey moderated a panel on “the Out-of-Home User Experience” (click on image for link to streaming video) at MediaPost’s Digital Out-of-Home Forum (DOOH) in New York. DOOH is the third-fastest growing ad medium after mobile and online video.
Paul Lindstrom, senior VP, Nielsen OnLocation, kicked off the panel with data showing video engagement is about 80 percent …

After examining the totals for 2010 radio station sales, one could become depressed. Like 2009, the total amount spent on acquisitions hovered around $400 million, even with 2010 considered to be a year of some economic recovery. However, the final tally shows there was no real increase in the value of radio station sales even …

CityGrid, the local content and advertising network announced today its plans to team up with CBS Local Digital Media. The new partnership gives local businesses the opportunity to be featured across CBS’ television and radio websites in major markets, thus gaining exposure to millions of online and mobile consumers.
“A media powerhouse like CBS has deep …

According to the most recent estimates, WTOP (FM), the all news station in Washington, D.C., was the highest billing station in 2010. BIA/Kelsey estimates the station billed more than $57 million, providing news and information to its local market in a year with significant political and economic news to report. KIIS (FM), a CHR station …

Tuesday morning, ILM East kicked off before the sun rose, with coffee and klatching about broadcasters and online. After some introductory remarks, BIA/Kelsey VP Rick Ducey turned over the podium to his colleague, VP Mark Fratrik. Fratrik gave a recap of the latest BIA/Kelsey ad spend forecast by media, and then provided more focused …

Thus far, 2011 is revealing some notable announced transactions that could be signs of renewed interest in buying radio and television stations. The BIA/Kelsey monthly transactions report, which details the number of stations sold and their value, shows a marked increase in the month of January. Is it a sign that the station trading marketplace …

As Social Local Media — BIA/Kelsey’s newest advisory service — marches toward its Feb. 23 launch and Feb. 24 free webinar, we’re using social media channels to present data to our audience and learn more about your challenges, successes and needs in social strategy.
Now, we thought we’d change it up by breaking out the social …

The economy is showing signs of strength outside of the weak employment gains. Consumers are spending and advertisers are taking notice. To attract these new purchases, advertisers are spending more in many different local media. And given that the outlook looks a promising, the values of the public media companies are showing strong growth.
Since the …

Just days after consolidating Adify and Cox Cross Media into the integrated advertising network Cox Digital Solutions, the company is making waves again. This time, it’s acquiring in order to expand scale by scooping up IB Local Network from Internet Broadcasting Systems, which serves more than 2,200 Web sites.
Internet Broadcasting already directs many of its …