SuperPages – Let Your Fingers Do Less Walking

AT&T may say that print YP is still strong. And it may be for AT&T, although I doubt it. I live in Verizon country and I just recieved the 2011 version of my local SuperPages. Their book tells another story. It seems to be getting thinner every year. I wish I could do that.



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The consumer white pages have been totally removed from the book. I am not sure many will notice. That trimmed 113 pages of paper as well as and shipping costs.

More significant (and I am sure the reason behind the white pages trimming) is that the YP ad pages dropped from 182 to 137 pages. That’s a 24.7% drop. Given that print size, book size and ad sizes all remained constant it means that display advertising is way down. On the first page of the yellow pages, Superpages themselves had a 50% bigger ad and they continued that practice throughout the book. So even the fewer number of pages do not contain as many paying ads per page. That has to sting.

One interesting addition to the cover was a QR Code to down load their app. It replaced their URL.

If they keep going at this pace, it will be reduced to thin air in no time. It reminds me of the first sci fi thriller of my childhood: The Incredible Shrinking Man. It was scary and made for some bad dreams but in the end was just a good story that very few remember. My fingers will be walking a lot less whether they want to or not.

Related posts:

1. Greg Sterling: Print Yellow Pages: What’s the Real Story?
2. Google Maps and the QR Code – Why Use Google’s?
3. Yahoo! Maps Updated