How advertising on local websites with high levels of user engagement is an integral part of today’s advertising strategy. Presented by Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix during iStrategy Chicago conference 2010.

1. Geolocation, Local and Mobile:
The #1 trend in 2010
Chris Tolles
CEO
Topix
@tolles

2. Agenda
• Introductions
• What’s in it for me?
• Industry Overview
• Localized Online Advertising
• Takeaways

3. What is Topix?
• Topix is a platform for
participation, built on top of
zip-code-level local news
aggregation
• Designed for real Americans
• Who are looking for honest,
local talk online
Topix is the best place online for
real, local conversations

4. Reach untapped, local audiences – nationwide on a single platform
Topix is local
0
10,000,000
20,000,000
30,000,000
40,000,000
50,000,000
60,000,000
70,000,000
80,000,000
90,000,000
100,000,000
110,000,000
120,000,000
130,000,000
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
1H2010
Internal Site Stats
• 14.8 million unique visitors
• 123 million pageviews
• 125,000 comments/day
Source: Google Analytics, Jan – June ‘10
Third Party Stats
• 7.877 million unique visitors
• 52% female, 48% male
• 35% HHI $75,000+
• 69% are ages 18 – 49
Source: comScore, Media Metrix, June ‘10
Highlights
• Top 10 newspaper web site
• Local community, nationwide
• Complementary audience to
traditional local media
AverageMonthlyPageviews

5. What’s in it for me?
The fastest-growing segments of
online advertising are the local
sector, anything targeted, and
everything involving social media.
--Borrell Associates, Aug. 2010
Indeed, a steady shift toward digital
media continues…. Spending on
online/interactive media is projected
to grow [a] CAGR of 19.3 percent.
--BIA/Kelsey Group, Feb. 2010
BIA/Kelsey Group Local Ad Forecast
2009 - 2014
$115.0
$15.2 $36.7
$108.2
$-
$40.0
$80.0
$120.0
$160.0
All Local Media Online Local Media
Billions
2009
2014

6. Online drives offline results
* Forrester, December 2009
**Kelsey Group, March 2010
Online-influenced offline sales will reach $1.4 trillion by 2014*
Nearly all consumers (97 percent) now use online media
when researching products or services in their local area**

7. Audiences are Tuning in Differently

8. Mobile Internet Ramping Faster than Desktop Internet Did
Source: Morgan Stanley

9. Mobile Will Be Bigger Than Desktop Internet in 5 Years
Source: Morgan Stanley
40% of US Adults now surf the web on their smartphone*
*Source: Pew Research Center, July 2010

10. Topix Mobile Pageviews Confirm This
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
Dec-08
Jan-09
Feb-09
Mar-09
Apr-09
May-09
Jun-09
Jul-09
Aug-09
Sep-09
Oct-09
Nov-09
Dec-09
Jan-10
Feb-10
Mar-10
Apr-10
May-10
Jun-10
Jul-10
Aug-10

11. Who Should Care Today?
• If you want to understand the latest trends in
local, geo-location and mobile marketing
• If you need to drive offline purchases &
behavior
• If you have regionally differentiated products
• If your message needs to be localized

12. Geolocation Applications
• $100M in funding at a $475M valuation (Jan 2010)
• 38M unique users; 12M user generated reviews
• Added mobile “check in” feature (Jan 2010)
• Added “Daily Deals” feature (Aug 2010)
• $8.4M in funding (Dec 2009)
• 350K users
• Named one of Time Magazines “50 Best Websites”
(August 2010)
• $20M in funding at a $95M valuation (June 2010)
• 3M users, 1M badges, 100M “check ins”
• 15K venues offering “specials
According to Skyhook Wireless, there are more than
6,400 location-aware iphone apps

13. Foursquare is Popularizing Geolocation

14. Lots of Local Players
• Partnerships with Travel Channel and H&M (virtual goods)
• 3M users (up from 500k in Jan, 130k new users a week,)
• Averages 70 minutes of playtime per user per day
• Presence for 1.1M online local merchants
• Backed by IAC
• 100M comments from 20,000 towns and cities across US
• 7.8M unique users (Top 10 online newspaper site)
• Backed by Gannett, Tribune and McClatchy
• Presence in 88 cities; 22 countries
• $135M in Series C funding with $1.35 billion valuation
in April 2010
• 13 million subscribers

15. Innovation & investment
• AOL & Patch
• Acquired for $7 million in June 2009
• Invested $50M in April 2010
• As of August, launched more than 100 communities; 400
more in next 6 months
• Yahoo & Associated Content
• Acquired in May 2010 for a rumored $100 million
• Thousands of contributors to cover local content
• SimpleGEO company indexing 1M+ locations per
hour – launching Fall 2010
• Facebook launched Places August 18
• 500M active users; 150M access the site via mobile device
• The day after launch, FourSquare had it’s biggest check-in
day ever

16. Geo-targeting Delivers Best ROI
Local ads in a local context are 4X more effective*
* Mindshare Interactive Sprint case study

17. Consumers Trust ads on Local Media Sites
Source: Online Publishers Association Local Media: From Advertising to Action, August 2008

18. Advertising on Local Sites Generates Action

19. Online Maps Help Customers Find Your Product

20. Dynamic Local Advertising: Great for Automotive
YuMe
Placecast

21. Put National Campaigns in a Local Context
Topix localized Pep Boys’
ad creative for 573 locations in 35 states

22. Geo-localization Examples: Sunday Circular

23. Local Communities Drive National Revenue
$68,000 in teeth whitening – in one day

24. Mobile: As Local as it gets
Customer service as marketing Direct consumers to purchaseDirect consumers to purchase

25. Takeaways
• Local Online increasing over next 5 years
• Mobile usage is here today -- and getting bigger
• Geolocation is driving awareness of all local online
• Local audiences + local context 4X more efficient
Everybody online lives somewhere

26. Thank you!
Contact Info:
Chris Tolles, CEO
Topix
tolles@topix.com
@tolles