nextMEDIA liveblog: The buzz on geo-location strategies

Media companies and advertisers are increasingly considering a consumer’s specific geographic location, as we’ve seen with group-buying. In this liveblog coverage of nextMEDIA 2011′s panel discussion on geo-location, learn about this rising tech trend.

Taking place in Toronto’s Carlu conference centre, nextMEDIA is hosting various sessions on how media and technology converge to create new innovation to reach customers and audience. [i]Digital Journal[/i] is hosting a liveblog covering the event titled Your Geo-Location Strategy: Think Global, Act Local.

Featuring at this event are major industry movers in this field: Matthew Ames, Director, Performance Marketing, CX Interactive; Candice Faktor, Digital Vice President, Strategy and New Ventures, for Torstar; and Kathy Kohn, Partner, Chief Creative Officer, henderson bas kohn.

Here are some of the questions they’ll be answering: What are some of the brands that have had success with location-based marketing campaigns? Which strategies need to be put in place for your brand to leverage a location-based campaign? And what kind of interaction is required to keep your customers engaged.

The liveblog below will go live at 11:50 a.m. ET today, so you just need to scroll to the liveblog widget below and enter a name and take part right away. After the event, a transcript will be viewable to anyone.

The liveblog for this session will end at 12:45 p.m.

We will also be covering another nextMEDIA session at 1:40 p.m. ET, titled Publishers Talk Digital.

Report: Local digital ad revenue expected to nearly double by 2015 in U.S.

By Chris Hogg

According to a press release issued today, BIA/Kelsey is forecasting a significant bump in local digital ad revenue over the next four years. The research and consulting firm says local advertisers are going to steadily migrate to digital media properties and revenues are expected to climb to $42.5 billion in the U.S. by 2015. That is almost double the $21.7 billion generated last year.

“This growth coincides with anticipated improvement in the U.S. economy and a continued rise in overall local advertising, which the firm expects will reach $153.5 billion in 2015, up from $136.3 billion in 2010, representing a 2.1 percent [compound annual growth rate],” the release states.

Some consider local advertising to be the Holy Grail of digital revenue, but it’s an area that has yet to fully maximize its potential. Small companies who have money to spend often find online advertising complicated or confusing to measure. Many also lack the resources or technical know-how to manage online advertising, so they simply don’t do it.

A growing exception to the rule are daily deal companies like GroupOn that have provided a very simple way to spend and measure return on digital investments. Google is also pushing its Google Places product for small business to get listed online.

BIA/Kelsey predicts digital media — including mobile, Web or other electronic means — will represent 23.6 percent of all local ad spending by 2015.

“As the business climate improves and advertisers step back into the market, they are gravitating to digital options that perhaps were not as mature before the recession began,” Tom Buono, CEO of BIA/Kelsey, said in a press release. “Our analysis indicates that as advertisers move to online, mobile and, particularly, the variants of social media, we are fast approaching a tipping point where digital media will soon become a dominant segment of the local advertising marketplace.”

Among the key drivers for increased digital spending are the growing number of smartphones and tablets; declines in newspaper revenue and the rise of paywalls; and interactive and online sectors are advancing rapidly with new options and formats.

Finally, BIA/Kelsey believes the social part of digital media is increasingly becoming a core channel for revenue. The company says the daily deal space alone will grow to $3.9 billion by 2015 and both Twitter and Facebook will be part of this expanding market.