Advertising in the Phone Book?

A study was released by the Y.P.A. (Yellow Pages Association) that needs to be very carefully understood. Take a look at the study, but also click here to get a better perspective. Here's the report:

Yellow Pages usage in 2007 grew to 17.2 billion searches, up from 16.7 billion in 2006, thanks to the growth of internet Yellow Pages (IYP), the Yellow Pages Association (YPA) announced, citing industry research.

Print usage remained stable with 13.4 billion print Yellow Pages references, unchanged from 2006, according to the 2007 Knowledge Networks/SRI (KN/SRI) Industry Usage Study, while Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) searches increased 15% in 2007 to 3.8 billion, up from 2006’s 3.3 billion IYP searches, according to comScore.

Additional findings:

• Approximately 87% of the US population used the print Yellow Pages in 2007 (KN/SRI).
• Average number of monthly IYP searchers up 16%: 73 million IYP searchers per month in 2007, compared to 63.1 million IYP searchers per month in 2006 (comScore).
• Of the 144 million people performing local searches online in December 2007, over half (51%) used IYPs (comScore).

“The Yellow Pages medium is still a go-to resource for ready-to-buy consumers. Overall Yellow Pages usage increased in 2007 as internet use continues to grow and print usage stabilizes,” said Neg Norton, president of YPA. “Combined with a 27:1 average sales ROI* for national display advertisers, the Yellow Pages in all formats is a ‘must-buy’ medium for advertisers of all sizes.”

* Source: CRM Associates, 2006.

About the research: The KN/SRI Industry Usage Study was based on 9,008 telephone interviews conducted in 2007; the research methods include a random digit dial sample with one adult selected at random in each contacted household. The comScore qSearch Local & IYP data employs a proprietary panel of one million US panelists.

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