MSearchGroove

Make room for new mobile search strategies that put media companies in command of their digital assets and their monetization via a variety of mobile search monetization schemes. The tie-up between mobile search and messaging company 4Info and USA Today provides a valuable blueprint and proof that mobile search companies will soon have to reconsider their singular focus on mobile operators and open up to selling to brands, or risk losing out to the likes of Fast Search & Transfer, a white-label provider that has made some impressive gains in this space.

[And USA Today isn’t the only company making its mark with mobile search and advertising. I’m a long-time watcher of Schibsted, a Norwegian publisher whose Sesam mobile portal (provided by white-label mobile search provider mobilePeople) effectively outperforms Google in that country, as this release reports. For an encore, the publisher has created its own ad network and got the first media companies on board in a brilliant scheme to make their content searchable and monetizable via Sesam. (I’ve followed this strategy from the start and documented it in my work, so please peruse the Library section if you want to find out more.)]

But this week the news is all about 4Info and USA Today, companies that have moved a giant step ahead of their peers by launching a mobile search and advertising strategy that covers all the bases. Intrigued by last week’s funding announcement, I caught up with Zaw Thet, 4Info CEO, and Matt Jones, director of mobile strategy and operations at USA Today’s parent company Gannett, to find out where they plan to go from here. (I’m happy to report I got much more detail than I had hoped for. Look for analysis of this game-changing strategy in my upcoming mobile search report on behalf of VisionGain. And for those who can’t wait: I’ll also contribute a feature on the topic to the next issue of Mobile Entertainment magazine.)

The companies disclosed their plans to pursue local search and localized content. To date (and you’re reading it here first) Gannett is involved in trials to bring the search and advertising services, provided by 4info, to other Gannett properties. As Jones put it, the move is a natural extension of what Gannett is doing – and a perfect fit now that the company can claim some 85 local newspapers and over 20 TV stations have their mobile (and ad-funded) WAP destinations up and running.”Local is a huge focus of our company and it’s an area that has been underserved.” The idea is to tap into this “tremendous opportunity” to “move the service to a more local level from where we are nationally with USA Today.” So, how would this work in practice? Jones said the approach would pair local news and local advertising. “It could be a breaking news [newsletter]; it could be information only relevant to the local community; it could even be a storm warning.”

In Jones’ view, the strategy builds on Gannett’s position as a one-stop source for local news and content in many of its markets. “It’s not about trying to out-Google Google or out-Yahoo Yahoo.” It’s more about building on Gannett’s position as a trusted brand for local news and bringing in advertising – particularly local advertising - the audience would appreciate. After all, local is the turf where Google & Co. don’t have the clout or the reach they do in other markets. “Users will seek out the brands they know and where they have a comfort level with the content they [the brands] produce,” Jones adds. Gannett is betting on this behavior to play out at the local level.

And he has a point. Consider this shocker from IDC. It recently wrote that “roughly 70 percent of queries on the Web are not going first to search engines…Instead, users are going directly to the Web sites, the destinations on the Web, and are bypassing search engines entirely.” It’s all about the fixed Internet right now, but no reason to believe the trend, driven by the proliferation of D2C plays by content providers and rights owners, won’t spread to the mobile Web. It’s common knowledge that advertising follows eyeballs – and media companies certainly do have brand trust they can turn into cash.

To round out the offer, Jones said mobile social networking could also become part of the equation. No concrete plans yet – but the groundwork is there if you take a closer look at Party Crasher, the mobile website launched by Gannett’s Indianapolis newspaper. The idea, he explained, is to make users “part of the local news that belongs to a bigger brand.”

4Info’s Thet also briefed me on his company’s roadmap, which has taken on new dimensions since it quietly and cleverly sealed a deal with Obopay to handle mobile payments. Combine this with mobile search, push alerts and its soon-to-be-announced self-service ad marketplace, and it’s clear to see 4Info has its eye on the prize. It aims to be a full-fledged alternative to Google. (Actually, 4Info provides more features and functionality than Google does – Google doesn’t provide mobile SMS alerts, for example.)

As Thet put it, the next step is to “allow advertisers to publish a call-to-action, giving people the ability to do impulse buys from their mobile phone.” Details are sketchy, but Thet told me the chief focus will be on enabling users to buy DVDs from their phones. The service would allow advertisers to connect with consumers when they are in buy-mode.

In this scenario, 4Info would “be signed up as the merchant,” Thet explained. “We act not only as the advertising arm, but also the intermediary. We drive someone to purchase the DVD, we handle with our payment partner the ability for the user to do that, and then we pass the order on to the actual company so they can send the DVD.” (I asked Jones if Gannett will use the same payment partner and approach. His response: the partnership is between 4Info and Obopay. “We don’t have a relationship, but through the partnership we have with 4Info I could see us bringing services like this on mobile.”)

4Info is also gearing up to introduce mobile video advertising. In practice, the SMS ads it currently delivers will include a link to a video clip that users can click on to view. The idea is not to detract from the interaction with the SMS ad. “If Chevy wants to distribute a viral video, then we can put a link at the bottom of the message. It’s just an additional way to show users a piece of ad inventory.

And speaking of ad inventory, I took the opportunity to check some of the stats and facts listed in a recent VentureBeat article with the source. Thet’s take: The article contains some hyperbole – but is still pretty accurate. 4Info inventory was “100 percent sold-out in May, on an average of $50 CPM.” That figure refers to the partnership with Gannett as well as 4Info’s other publishing partners (including Tribune, TV Guide, Boston Herald, to name a few…).

The business model allows a 50-50 revenue share with publishers. Surely there must be some hidden costs somewhere. But Thet maintains that his company has large enough volume to not only buy SMS in bulk – but do it without “passing any costs on to our publishers and the people using it.” In a nutshell, 4Info is both an integrator and an aggregator – and we know some aggregators are paid by operators for driving big enough volumes of traffic. 4Info is apparently in this fortunate position.

4Info is also set to make some announcements over the next weeks that will see the company playing a central role in the mobile messaging and advertising plans of Internet social networking sites. The aim is to wirelessly enable their communities and monetize their traffic. According to Thet, these sites will use 4Info’s platform (either with 4info short codes – or through using their own) to enable free ad-funded content to be sent to their members.

The takeaway: Gannett and 4Info show how it can be done. Media companies have the content, the reach, and the trusted brands. Now is the time to explore mobile search and advertising strategies to tie it all together.

(It’s also worth noting that Mobile Commerce (MC), a UK-based developer of mobile search facilities that counts several branded search engine companies and major mobile operators among its customers, has recently introduced its Monetised Mobile Search solution. The solution allows any WAP site owner, regardless of network, to install a search box within their interface and manage a keyword auction. Users’ search queries entered in the search box are submitted to MC, which blends the search results from a number of different search pools and presents these relevant results in the format and context that is most useful to the searcher. Put simply, MC uses its position as an honest broker to match search queries and results and advertising behind the scenes. MC has signed up several major media companies, and I’ll have more on that in an exclusive interview with CEO Steve Page later this month.)

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• Web 2.0, Mobile Content, Mobile Advertising, Local Search

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