According to The Local Onliner (the blog of veteran local-search industry analyst Peter Krasilovsky), YellowPages.com will see $1.5 billion across 3 AT&T screens by the year 2010.

While the other telcos have divested their Yellow Pages unit, AT&T still maintains that there is real synergy in pursuing a 3 screen strategy,  Krasilovsky wrote last December 12.

Rather than selling the YP unit and using the proceeds to build out its network, as Verizon did, AT&T is betting that there is a home field advantage in keeping its landline, mobile and U-Verse video customers intact, and selling advertising especially local advertising across the digital channels.

It’s a huge bet, according to the Kelsey Group analyst, but he likes the ambition of it all. In an fiercely competitive video marketplace, U-Verse has apparently already been riding through some birth pains, while mobile advertising, on the other hand, needs to be very carefully handled.

AT&T Group President of Diversified Businesses, Ray Wilkins (who spoke at the company’s 2007 Analyst Conference), noted in his message that revenues are currently $600 million, but that he hopes to see $1.5 billion in non-print advertising revenues in three years, i.e. 2010.

Yellowpages.com, especially, is the core of the opportunity, since it represents a giant umbrella for all the products,Krasilovsky explained. It is expected to get 30% revenue growth CAGR over the three-year period.

The grounds for these projections is integrated sales from the YP sales force, a boost in searches from two billion to three billion; the integration of Ingenio’s Pay-Per-Call platform; and the general growth from search revenues, especially on the mobile side.

Wilkins also noted that 18 million wireless handsets will be pre-installed for AT&T mobile search next year, and enabled in 20 million others. By the end of the 2007, he predicts digital ad insertion will begin in U-Verse homes.

The opportunities are very exciting but success in deliverying revenue will depend on how adaptable the sales force is to embracing the complexities of the myriad of new technologies.

According to recent report by the New Communications Review (a publication of the Society for New Communications Research, a nonprofit think-tank dedicated to the advanced study of new communications tools and technologies), the latest industry research revealed the following new trends:

Social Networking developing into a global phenomenon
This year, Asia will account for 35% of the world’s social networking users, with 28% of users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 25% in North America, and 12% in the Caribbean and Latin America, according to a recent report from research firm Datamonitor Plc.

1 in 5 listeners visit local radio websites
According to The Media Audit, their study (conducted between fall 2006 through spring 2007 in 88 local U.S. markets) finds that Entercom Radio in Buffalo, New York ranks as the second highest radio web site group behind Cincinnati Clear Channel with an 8.5% reach with adults 18+, followed by: Clear Channel Radio in Lexington, Kentucky (8.2%), Clear Channel Radio in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida (7.7%), and Clear Channel Radio in Houston, Texas (7.6%).

Among the top five local radio groups, the largest increase was observed with Clear Channel in Lexington, where unique monthly web site visitors increased by 163%. According to a press release issued by The Media Audit, nearly one in five online users now visit a local radio station web site in a typical month, representing more than 18 million adults. A year-over-year analysis also reveals that 21 local radio station clusters achieved or exceeded a 6% market reach with their aggregated web sites.

U.S. mobile phone users want better internet capability
44.7% of those surveyed by The Kelsey Group and ConStat say a mobile phone with better Internet capability will be a key factor in their next mobile phone purchase decision. According to the survey, only 26% of mobile phone service subscribers currently opt for an Internet access plan.

In the past six months, notes the study, 9.8% of respondents used their mobile phones to conduct Internet searches for products and services in their local area. During the same period, 10.7% downloaded or looked at maps, while 10.9% indicated they had downloaded search or mapping applications for use on the Internet to supplement those that came with their mobile phones.

Mobile ads to surpass online ads in India
The new trend is gaining speed to the point that it has industry professionals speculating that it could very easily soon surpass online advertising. According to a study by Thomas Weisel International, online advertising in India will predictably reach a peak by the end of 2009, which is when mobile ads are supposedly going to skyrocket, according to a report in Business Standard.

Rajiv Khanna, Meridian Mobile CEO, stated to Business Standard: “The cellular growth in India is faster than that of personal computer penetration and this will result in huge opportunities for advertisers. The emergence of high-end handsets and portable devices would also result in advertisements moving away from the Internet.”

84% of journalists use blogs as sources
According to the Arketi Group 2007 Web Watch Survey, 84% of journalists say they would or already have used blogs as a primary or secondary source for articles. 100% of those (journalists) surveyed say they rely on the Internet to help get their job done. One-quarter of journalists say blogs make their job easier, while 18% say instant messaging makes their job easier.

Dr. Kaye Sweetser, assistant professor of public relations at the University of Georgia, said, “This survey shows that business journalists are embracing user-generated content like blogs, webinars and podcasts in their day-to-day reporting.” 90% of journalists say they turn to industry sources for story ideas, an equal number get story ideas from news releases, and a nearly equal number say they tap into public relations contacts.

According to a Nov. 27 article I came across in Macworld.com, Yahoo is going to launch a new structured search component to their web search engine. Yahoo Search users may soon be able to do a structured search around select terms, rather than navigate through a large number of search results.

For example, if a user inputs the words mobile phone in the Yahoo search box, apart from listing the usual search results containing the phrase mobile phone, Yahoo’s new structured search results will also offer pull-down menus with choices including mobile phone brands, technologies and specifications, and other features.

Once the user has made a selection on the menus, Yahoo Search will give the user a list of mobile phones meeting the specifications, their prices, and the Web sites where they can be purchased.

In an interview with Macworld.com, Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Yahoo’s vice president of research for Europe and Latin America, did not say when the feature would be available on Yahoo Search, but indicated it could happen soon.

MediaInCanada.com carried an interesting story on Nov. 19 regarding a new dynamic ad platform that will change the face of TV advertising. According to the article, Rogers Video will become the first marketer to try out the innovative Flex-Advertising introduced earlier last month by Corus Custom Networks. The cable giant will use the service to change and update new release titles and dates on Corus’s TV Listings Channel.

The new service will supposedly make television advertising as dynamic as Internet advertising.

“We are providing our clients with the opportunity to change their ads as often as they like,  said Tyler Alton, VP/GM of Corus Custom Networks, allowing them to keep their marketing messages current and their customers informed.”

“Clients simply log onto our extranet, make the necessary changes to their ads and confirm their requests. Then their ad is sent to broadcast on the TV Listings Channel,” added Angela Joyce, the company’s marketing manager. Typically, she explains, information that needs updating includes prices, dates or availability.

Corus Custom Networks’ full-service broadcast design team will create customized ad templates for Flex-Advertising clients and post them on the extranet – after which clients can manage evolving changes.

The TV Listings Channel plays uninterrupted 24-hour channel guide information in a split-screen format that allows advertisers to run commercials of 15, 30, 60 or 90 seconds on the top half of the screen while the channel guide appears at the bottom. The channel reaches over 1.8 million viewers each week in over 80 markets across BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

Regarding the marketing of the new service, Joyce said that her company has identified national advertisers who change their print and on-screen creative regularly, and we are presenting customized pitches directly to them. In addition, we are making the agency and media-buying community aware through presentations that demonstrate the technology” and the ways Flex-Advertising can be advantageous in the marketing mix.

Perhaps one of the main advantages with Flex-Advertising is the ability to measure the impact of any given ad in real time and swiftly alter it when necessary. Advertisers are in a constant struggle to keep their marketing messages in line with customer needs. If Flex-Advertising takes off, they will be able to provide a medium that encourages change rather than hindering it.

Instant messaging is crucial component of workplace communication these days, and it’s growing in a rapid, exponential pace. With over 100 million users of instant messaging (and growing), InternetLabz.com has launched a new service by which instant messaging users specifically those that use AOL and MSN can look up a business phone number or address quickly through the Yellow Pages.

In November, the company announced that by accessing “FreeYellowPages” over AOL and MSN instant messenger will give business names, addresses, and telephone numbers on any business within 2 seconds, which is much faster than opening up a browser and entering a URL to access a specific website. (On AOL, the screen name to add on the buddy list is “FreeYellowPages,” and on MSN, the email to add is FreeYellowPages@hotmail.com.)

Another service provided over instant messenger is a dictionary with the screen name “MyDictionary.” Users of AOL and MSN instant messenger can quickly get definitions, antonyms, synonyms, and thesaurus on any word by simply instant messaging that word to “MyDictionary”. On AOL, the screen name to add on the buddy list is “MyDictionary” and on MSN the email to add is My-Dictionary@hotmail.com.

InternetLabz.com is an internet incubation company with popular websites such as http://www.YELLOWPAGES.travel which searches the top 12 travel sites with one click and also http://www.SearchBoth.com which places Google and Yahoo or Expedia and Travelocity on one split screen, side by side. The site also searches the top 9 search engines and the top 12 travel sites. Users select any two sites to view side by side.