We are all aware of the Internet’s effect on traditional media. Consumer usage has shifted online and so have advertising dollars, giving support to the adage, “Where the consumer goes, advertisers are sure to follow.” And as the media landscape shifted online over the last decade, many industry experts proclaimed the death of print Yellow Pages (PYP).

But here we are in 2010, and PYP are still alive and well. Over the past three years, TMP Directional Marketing and comScore have released a local-search study that confirmed PYP remain a top-referenced consumer source for local-business information. Reaffirming their importance, the Yellow Pages Association (YPA), along with Burke and comScore, released a new study showing positive data supporting consumer usage of PYP.

What are the key points of the YPA study?

• First and foremost, PYP remain a top media source, receiving 12 billion references in 2009. In addition, these references come from ready-to-buy consumers, with 68 percent contacting or visiting a business after a search.
• Also, the study found that consumers consider PYP to be an accurate and trusted media source, even more than search engines. No argument here. Let’s face it, the Internet is an endless source of information, and large businesses continue to struggle with correcting their local-business listings online. I recently drove fifteen minutes, based on my online search, only to find that the business I was looking for had moved.
• Overall, the top PYP publishers have embraced the fact that certain consumers prefer to search online and, to accommodate them, have developed Internet Yellow Pages sites. As the YPA study points out, this was a smart move as IYP grew in 2009, driving an additional 4.9 billion references to many of these publishers. 

So what conclusions can be drawn about PYP users versus online users?

Greg Sterling addresses this in his recent blog post, citing the YPA study as well as the TMPDM study mentioned earlier. No surprises, as both sets of research agree that older consumers tend to utilize PYP, while younger generations are more likely to use online resources such as search engines.

While the study from YPA provides useful research, the status of today’s media landscape remains unchanged. Consumers are using multiple sources, both online and offline, when searching for local businesses (and usage varies greatly when taking into account demographics such as age).

Ultimately, advertisers need to have a firm understanding of how their target consumers are searching, then optimize their media allocation based on those behaviors. The days of limited media placements are long gone, as the media landscape will only continue to fragment.