Attached files
file | filename |
---|---|
EX-99.2 - EX-99.2 - LOCAL Corp | a58291exv99w2.htm |
8-K - FORM 8-K - LOCAL Corp | a58291e8vk.htm |
Exhibit 99.1
For Immediate Release
Local.com® Enters Group-Buying Space
Acquires iTwango Group-Buying Platform
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 7, 2011 Local.com Corporation (NASDAQ: LOCM), a leading local
search site and network, today announced the acquisition of iTwango L.L.C., a technology
platform that enables group-buying of discounted daily deals by consumers from local businesses.
iTwango (http://www.itwango.com/) is an early stage group-buying platform that allows
advertisers to submit discounted offers to consumers who receive those geo-targeted offers daily
via email. Group-buying is the purchasing of discounted or special offers from a business on the
condition that a minimum number of buyers are found.
Small business advertisers have shown strong interest and satisfaction with group-buying as an
advertising medium. A leader in the group-buying space recently reported that 97 percent of its
SMB advertisers would run another promotion. In addition, a group-buying deal aggregator also
found that among a small sample of daily deal advertisers, 93 percent would run another deal
promotion. Consumers are also benefiting from the discounted offers from small businesses, with
visits to a sample of group-buying websites and aggregators increasing 610 percent between
August 2009 and August 2010, according to Experian Hitwise.
We believe that the group-buying model is a powerful new development in local advertising that
effectively closes the gap between online research and offline transactions, and therefore
represents an important step in demonstrating to small businesses the immediacy and value of
local online advertising, said Heath Clarke, Local.com chairman and CEO. We expect that
iTwango will be an exciting new product for Local.com and our extensive network of regional
media publishers, who have the feet-on-the-street sales forces to capitalize on this emerging
local advertising segment. We will be investing into our group-buying technology platform and
anticipate rolling out our first products towards the middle of 2011.
iTwango enables advertisers to set minimum and maximum deal participation (known as tipping
points), thereby enabling tighter control of their exposure than other daily-deal sites. Other
features of iTwango include:
| Easy consumer registration and purchase with automatic identification of consumer location | |
| Consumers can select their geographies of interest, view deal of the day and browse all deals | |
| Easy self-service sign-up for small business advertisers | |
| Multiple listing and location-based advertiser offers | |
| Supports a network model, whereby deals can be imported or exported via API and also distributed to publishers via API, RSS feeds and widgets | |
| Deal providers can also be publishers within the network, allowing regional media publishers to distribute deals exclusively on their own sites | |
| Deal providers can allocate deal inventory to specific publishers | |
| Publishers can have a private label interface for consumer registration, purchase and voucher printing |
| Multiple currency formats |
iTwango will undergo rebranding and is expected to be distributed widely across the flagship
Local.com site and network of over 1,000 local and regional media sites, as well as over 100,000
hyperlocal sites under Local.com management. iTwango is also expected to be made available to
Local.coms regional media network on a private label basis.
About Local.com®
Local.com Corporation (NASDAQ: LOCM) owns and operates a leading local search site and
network in the United States. The company uses patented and proprietary technologies to provide
over 20 million consumers each month with relevant search results for local businesses, products
and services on Local.com and over 1,000 partner sites. Local.com powers over 100,000 local
websites, and tens of thousands of small business customers use Local.com products and services
to reach consumers using a variety of subscription, performance and display advertising and
website products. To advertise, or for more information visit: www.local.com.
Forward Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this document regarding our
anticipated financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of our management for
future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this report, words such as
anticipate, believe, estimate, plans, expect, intend, projects, feel and similar
expressions and phrases, as they relate to Local.com or our management, identify forward-looking
statements. Any forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as
assumptions made by and information currently available to our management. Actual results could
differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of
certain factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to monetize the Local.com domain,
including at a profit, our ability to retain a monetization partner for the Local.com domain and
other web properties under our management that allows us to operate profitably, our ability to
incorporate our local-search technologies, our ability to market the Local.com domain as a
destination for consumers seeking local-search results, our ability to grow our business by
enhancing our local-search services, including through businesses we acquire, the future
performance of our OCTANE360 business, the integration and future performance of the iTwango
business, the possibility that the information and estimates used to predict anticipated
revenues and expenses associated with the businesses we acquire are not accurate, difficulties
executing integration strategies or achieving planned synergies, the possibility that
integration costs and go-forward costs associated with the businesses we acquire will be higher
than anticipated, our ability to successfully expand our sales channels for new and existing
products and services, our ability to increase the number of businesses that purchase our
subscription advertising and other business products, our ability to expand our advertiser and
distribution networks, our ability to integrate and effectively utilize our acquisitions
technologies, our ability to develop our products and sales, marketing, finance and
administrative functions and successfully integrate our expanded infrastructure, as well as our
dependence on major advertisers, competitive factors and pricing pressures, changes in legal and
regulatory requirements, and general economic conditions. Any forward-looking statements reflect
our current views with respect to future events and are subject to these and other risks,
uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy
and liquidity. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or
persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this paragraph. Unless
otherwise stated, all site traffic and usage statistics are from third-party service providers
engaged by the company.
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K/A, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-Q/A,
recent Current Reports on Form 8-K and Form 8-K/A, and other Securities and Exchange Commission
filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could
contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and
financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date
they are made. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking
statement for any reason.
# # #
Investor Relations Contact:
Brinlea C. Johnson
The Blueshirt Group
212-551-1453
brinlea@blueshirtgroup.com
Brinlea C. Johnson
The Blueshirt Group
212-551-1453
brinlea@blueshirtgroup.com
Media Relations Contact:
Cameron Triebwasser
Local.com
949-789-5223
ctriebwasser@local.com
Cameron Triebwasser
Local.com
949-789-5223
ctriebwasser@local.com