From Phone Books to MySpace:  Assessing the Complete YP Universe
By Jane Dennison-Bauer

The newest "Yellow Pages" are often neither yellow nor pages – but they are meeting the same powerful information and search needs for consumers, and then some. Though print directories remain a $14 billion business per year, the "directory" medium has also moved into many new areas – Internet yellow pages, mobile search, 4-1-1, and more – creating a new, and more diverse landscape for the Yellow Pages business. Now Knowledge Networks is moving forward with an aggressive, total-universe product for measuring Yellow Pages across media – The Y AdvantageSM.

Fragmentation in every area of the media universe is making a comprehensive view of the Yellow Pages business more complex. Yet, that complete but easily digestible single-source view is necessary and until now completely unfulfilled. As these new Yellow Pages (YP) identities establish themselves, the need grows not just for measurement but user diagnostics, as well. Buyers and sellers of media search for a unified, valid approach that can simplify advertising spend and also enable allocation of their media dollars across the YP universe. Achieving this with Yellow Pages is no easier than with other cross-media brands – yet it can be done, and will be, by Knowledge Networks (KN) in 2008 and beyond.

For over 30 years, Knowledge Networks/SRI has been committed to meeting the measurement needs of the Yellow Pages industry, setting the standard for accuracy and statistical rigor in design and fielding. In keeping with our commitment to clients and delivery of projectable survey data, it is time for Knowledge Networks to again be a pioneer by introducing a syndicated, national view of the entire Yellow Pages marketplace. Our syndicated service, called The Y AdvantageSM, for the first time gives publishers, agencies, media companies, and investment firms a clear picture of YP use and users across media – including visits to key Internet sites – with a nationwide scope.

The Y AdvantageSM elevates the game of YP planning, sales and marketing by providing, in a syndicated service:

a total Yellow Pages industry size in terms of references, reach and frequency the above detail by Yellow Pages business line – print, Internet, 411, search and CD-ROM

cross-usage of key business lines heading detail ad usage Internet shopping behavior media usage and more

The Y AdvantageSM also delivers on KN's promise of broad transparency of information in all of our measurement services; it provides:

• a level playing field that benefits all Yellow Pages entities and
• projectable information that YP players can use to effectively compete with other media

In all of these above requirements, existing Yellow Pages measurements are either wanting or not to be found. Knowledge Networks via this product introduction is working hard to provide information that shows the relevance and value of Yellow Pages relative to all of the competitive media.

In keeping with KN's high quality standards in detailing media measurement and consumer media usage, The Y AdvantageSM will be conducted on KnowledgePanel®, the only online panel representative of the complete U.S. population, and thus projectable to that population. The use of KnowledgePanel's web-based platform that utilizes probability based sampling offers a variety of advantages:

• showing what a particular directory or Internet search page or mobile phone screen looks like
• accessing information, such as demographics, about panelists, permitting a shorter questionnaire
• visually presenting choices among YP books and other YP media that can be easily evaluated and completed at the respondent's preferred pace, instead of being read on the phone
• eliminating potential interviewer biasing effects

Use of KnowledgePanel® provides an easy venue for addressing all of the YP lines of business, with the promise of an expanding measurement approach as the number and varieties of YP media grow.

Importantly, our new product comes to market not just with a terrific and unique online sample source but makes use of KN's extensive Yellow Pages knowledge. Research from KN has shown that consulting Yellow Pages directories is largely unique among media experiences; usage is characteristically much closer to the time of an actual purchase as compared to other media, and users often view advertisements as valued sources of information rather than distractions. In some ways, one could see YP directories as a forerunner of the online search engine – and the YPs have indeed made the leap to the online world in a variety of ways.

Metrics for a cutting-edge medium

Syndicated measurement on a unique, high-quality, Web-based platform promises to bring a new level of standardization and comparability to Yellow Pages media measures across mediums. The Yellow Pages are newly comprehensive in their lines of business, and KN will continue to pursue statistically reliable innovations in syndicated service method and design that will serve the Yellow Pages industry's needs for years to come with The Y AdvantageSM.