Yellow Pages Publishers, KN/SRI Plan 2005 Rollout of Syndicated Measurement

Yellow Pages Publishers, KN/SRI Plan 2005 Rollout of Syndicated Measurement

Service will bring YPs into research parity with other ad-supported media

MENLO PARK, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The nation's top Yellow Pages (YP) publishers and Knowledge Networks/SRI (KN/SRI) -- a longstanding leader in research on media, including Yellow Pages -- are planning to roll out a syndicated Yellow Pages measurement in early 2005. The service will deliver objective consumer usage data to help media planners assess and leverage the unique and important benefits of this medium.

The 15 leading U.S. Yellow Pages publishers -- representing over 95% of the medium's ad revenue nationwide -- have joined forces to sponsor and develop the measurement; the service will initially cover over 200 Directory Distribution Areas (DDAs) in more than 90 DMAs, with other markets likely to be added in the future. (See Appendix 1 for a complete list of DMAs that will be included.)

Interviewing will begin in early 2005, and initial annual measurement of usage and directory share will be delivered in early 2006. This approach is in keeping with ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) guidelines for quality media measurement.

"Syndicated directory measurement provides us the unbiased data necessary to justify and better understand the value and usage of the Yellow Page program," said Janice Lucente, Marketing Manager for Allstate and Chair of the ANA Telephone Directory Advertising Committee. "It demonstrates that Yellow Pages is a strong and viable medium and could help support a business case for an increased investment."

"The entire industry, and especially our advertisers, will benefit by this effort," says Sue Hume, Executive Director, Marketing, at SBC Directory Operations and co-chair -- with Blanche McGuire, Senior Vice President, Marketing Strategy, at Ketchum Directory Advertising -- of the YP Syndicated Research Committee. "Standardized usage data will enable advertisers and their marketing reps to educate themselves more about our publications and then channel their investment dollars more strategically. Right now, some usage data can be difficult to interpret. The new service will inject needed consistency and discipline into the industry."

Burt Michaels, Vice President and Managing Director of Knowledge Networks/SRI and director of the syndicated Yellow Pages measurement, said the service "will help national advertisers obtain a clearer sense of the return on their YP investments. We are thrilled to be working with all the constituencies in this business, from publishers to CMRs to advertisers."

The syndicated service will provide measures of:
* overall Yellow Pages usage
* directory and publisher usage shares
* user demographics, including gender, age, income, race, education,
county size, and number of YPs in the home



The publishers participating in the service are Ambassador Publishing, BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp., K.W. Brock Directories, Cincinnati Bell Yellow Pages, Dex Media, Directory Marketing, R.H. Donnelley Publishing and Advertising, Downey Publishing, Hagadone Directories, Hearst NP, SBC Yellow Pages, Valley Yellow Pages, Verizon Information Services, White Directory Publishers/The Talking Phone Book, and Yellow Book USA.

Creation of the syndicated service has been supported by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and steered through active participation of the Association of Directory Marketers (ADM), the Association of Directory Publishers (ADP) and the Yellow Pages Association (YPA).

Knowledge Networks delivers quality you can use -- superior methodologies, design, and analysis that give you an edge when it comes to making smart, safe business decisions. KN's unmatched consumer research resources include the only projectable Web-based consumer panel. The company leverages its expertise in brands, media, advertising, and analytics to provide insights that speak directly to clients' most important marketing issues. In addition, Knowledge Networks has built a substantial practice in government and academic research, an area notable for its rigorous methodology standards.

In 2001, Knowledge Networks acquired assets and expertise from Statistical Research, creating Knowledge Networks/SRI. KN/SRI is one of the country's leading authorities on consumers' use and ownership of media and technology. The company is the leading measurement provider for Yellow Pages directories; other specialties include cross-media allocation (MultiMedia Mentor(TM)) and studies of consumers' interactions with media (How People Use(R) research).

Appendix 1
DMAs to Be Covered by Syndicated Yellow Pages Measurement Service

New York Columbus, OH Columbia (Charlotte)
Los Angeles Greenville-Spartanburg Madison
Chicago Salt Lake City Cedar Rapids-Waterloo
Philadelphia San Antonio Waco-Temple-Bryan
San Francisco Grand Rapids/Kala./B.Creek Colorado Springs-Pueblo
Boston West Palm Beach Davenpt.-R. Island-Moline
Dallas-Ft. Worth Birmingham Greenville-N. Bern-Wash.
Washington, D.C. Norfolk-Portsmouth Charleston (Columbia)
Atlanta Buffalo Ft Smith-Fayetteville
Detroit Oklahoma City Florence/Myrtle Beach
Houston Greensboro-High Point Tallahassee-Thomasville
Seattle-Tacoma Providence-New Bedford Traverse City/Cadillac
Tampa-St. Petersburg Albuquerque Augusta
Minneapolis-St. Paul Las Vegas Peoria-Bloomington
Phoenix Jacksonville, Brunswick Santa B-SanMar-SLO
Cleveland-Akron Austin Monterey-Salinas
Denver Little Rock-Pine Bluff Boise
Sacramento-Stockton Fresno-Visalia Bakersfield
Orlando-Daytona Dayton Chico-Redding
St. Louis Tulsa Rockford
Pittsburgh Mobile-Pensacola (Ft. Walt) Columbia-Jefferson City
Baltimore Flint-Saginaw-Bay City Erie
Portland, OR Wichita-Hutchinson Wilmington
Indianapolis Toledo Lubbock
San Diego Tucson (Sierra Vista) Odessa-Midland
Hartford & New Haven Des Moines-Ames Panama City
Raleigh-Durham Portland-Auburn Abilene-Sweetwater
Kansas City Omaha Missoula
Cincinnati Spokane Laredo
Milwaukee Shreveport Eureka
San Angelo



One or more DDAs from each of these DMAs will be included in the syndicated Yellow Pages measurement.


Source: Knowledge Networks

CONTACT: Dave Stanton, Director, Marketing Communications of Knowledge
Networks, +1-908-497-8040, or dstanton@knowledgenetworks.com

Web site: http://www.knowledgenetworks.com/


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