Dex looks to video ads to lift revenue

Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Dex knows online videos may be the next big thing to hit yellow pages advertising.

Parent company R.H. Donnelley Corp. is selling the video ads on DexKnows.com to help companies promote their products and services, and to generate an additional revenue stream for Dex itself.

"We're basically giving (advertisers) another way to get their message out," said Peter Larmey, a spokesman for North Carolina-based R.H. Donnelley. The Dex directories were formerly owned by Qwest Communications.

Larmey said R.H. Donnelley started offering the online videos in early 2006 after noticing the popularity of YouTube.com, which runs video clips mostly made by amateurs.

As The Wall Street Journal noted Tuesday, many yellow page companies nationwide are now selling online video ads.

Larmey said advertisers also see they can leverage the value of their TV commercials by running the same clips online.

The DexKnows.com Internet phone directory ads cost $109 a month and run from 30 seconds to two minutes, Larmey said. Dex also will help advertisers create a video for $144 a month.

He said he didn't have figures on how many advertisers in the Denver area have paid for online video ads. A random sampling indicated only a small percentage.

Video advertisers often appeared to be listed at the top of a category, but Larmey said placement fluctuates and doesn't depend on an advertiser paying for a video ad.

Robert and Erica Sansone ordered a video montage from Dex for their Sansone's Bistro in Greenwood Village.

"We've heard a couple mentions" of the ad, said Erica Sansone. But she said customers more generally say they've heard about the restaurant from the Internet. The bistro also is listed on -CitySearch.com.

R.H. Donnelley also announced Tuesday that consumers using DexKnows.com now can rate local businesses on a one- to five-star scale and write reviews to help others using the online directory.