Bill Gates Signs Yellow Pages Death Cert.

Bill Gates presented the company's Strategic Account Summit this week and the software visionary offered his vision on the future of search.

As usual Greg Sterling has the best summary of the presentation.

I love this quote about print Yellow Pages;

"Yellow pages are going to be used “less and less.” Gives plumber example: “Presentation you’ll get will be far better than what you’ll get in the [print] yellow pages.”

Yellow pages usage “among people under 50 will drop to near zero in the next five years.”

I'm sending this one to my clients who keep insisting they need to continue paying the Y.P's thousands per year.

Kelsey Group's Five Year Forecast

"Forecast Calls for Flat Print Growth"

The Kelsey Group's Global Print Yellow Pages, Internet Yellow Pages and Local Search Forecast was made public today.

Some bullet points;

• "Global print revenues will be relatively flat for the period (CAGR 0.9 percent) — US$26.5 billion in 2006 compared with US$27.8 billion in 2011."
• "Online revenues, by contrast, will grow a brisk 22.3 percent (CAGR) to US$11.1 billion in 2011. "

My read;

1. Print Yellow Pages will milk the categories they can while readership stalls.
2. As current Y.P. customers become aware of online options they will be flocking to Internet.

Dex Print Y.P. Reps Hit Colorado Springs Hard

Michael Taylor's informative post on the Kelsey Group Blog points to a Dex report on increased page sells in their Colorado Springs print directory;

"Dex Media announced a rather significant page-count growth in its Colorado Springs directory. While many question the viability of print Yellow Pages, particularly in a tech-savvy market like Colorado Springs, achieving page-count growth is something to take note of. According to the article, “Dex Media Inc. sold a record 1,365 pages of advertising in its 2007 directory, up 14.3 percent from last year"

It's a myth that merchants are flocking back to print. This surge in sales is targeted at one or two consumer sectors and they are hitting the restaurants especially hard.
Until there are enough local search marketing people bringing online options to these businesses the print guys will keep dangling the noose in front of them.