CityGrid Media Announces Extension of Infogroup Alliance for Premium Local Business Data

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. and OMAHA, Neb., Sept. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CityGrid Media and Infogroup today announced an extension of their licensing agreements that provides the online media company with access to Infogroup's full database of 15 million local businesses.  As part of the announcement, CityGrid also unveiled its upgraded CityGrid® developer platform, a newly improved API suite for developers that provides comprehensive places data and enhanced content for more than 15 million local businesses and access to over a million local advertisers in the CityGrid ad network.

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Under the agreement, CityGrid will bundle Infogroup's core business data together with its own enhanced places content and a growing list of third-party premium content, including social media details, product and service menus, deals and offers, reservation and booking widgets, videos, images and more. All of this will be paired with CityGrid's built-in advertiser base and delivered via the new overhauled API suite. By combining data, content and advertising, the CityGrid developer platform gives developers a comprehensive local dataset and monetization platform in one product.

"CityGrid listened to what local developers want – to get accurate data and rich content and get paid – and the new CityGrid Places developer platform is proof of that," said Jay Herratti, CEO, CityGrid Media. "Other places APIs are trying to provide local content to developers for free. We've leapfrogged them by combining Infogroup's trusted, phone-verified local data with the best of the Web's enhanced local content. And we provide immediate, built-in monetization."

CityGrid's goal for developers of all sizes is to leverage its new developer platform and thrive in local. To achieve this, the platform includes:

• Accurate places data for over 15 million local business listings
• Best-of-breed aggregated, managed and enhanced local content
• Nearly a million advertisers across 75,000 cities nationwide
• Targeted web and mobile formats to drive engagement with merchant advertisers
• iOS and Android SDKs for streamlined integration
• Ultimate flexibility to use vertical slices or the entire dataset
• Increased daily and monthly query volume
• Reliable performance at top speed and granular tracking

For more on CityGrid's platform announcement, visit http://www.citygridmedia.com/developer/blog/

"We are excited CityGrid has selected Infogroup to be the premier provider for their Places API.  Together, Infogroup and CityGrid will take great content to a lot of developers and mobile/search applications that previously could not integrate this content.  Now, with simple API access, not only can these companies integrate the content, they can monetize their applications via the CityGrid ad network," said Jim DeRouchey, President of Infogroup's Licensing division.

This partnership between CityGrid Media and Infogroup also has significant SEO implications that will benefit businesses' online and mobile visibility. Eric Enge, a regular contributor to Search Engine Land and Search Engine Watch, as well as president of SEO firm Stone Temple Consulting, had this to say:  "Infogroup is widely renowned as a leading business data compiler and a critical partner for those involved in local search. Leading companies license their content due to their meticulous compilation and verification processes. By partnering with CityGrid Media, Infogroup significantly extends its reach to new web and mobile applications. As a result, consistent business listings will be available across even more platforms, meaning more citations and a stronger 'signal strength' picked up by the search engines. The result is a positive SEO impact for businesses listed in their database."

About CityGrid Media

CityGrid Media is an online media company that connects web and mobile publishers with local advertising organizations by linking them through CityGrid®, its local content and advertising network. CityGrid Media owns and operates leading local consumer properties including Citysearch, Insider Pages and Urbanspoon. CityGrid Media is an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI). For more information, visit www.citygridmedia.com

About Infogroup

Infogroup helps companies increase sales and customer loyalty through our high value data, market intelligence and innovative digital solutions.  We uncover and unlock revenue growth by enabling our clients –from local businesses to Fortune 100 companies – to connect and engage with their most valuable audiences millions of times each day.  Infogroup data powers the top 5 internet search engines and  90% of the GPS systems in North America.  For more information, please visit www.infogroup.com.

For More Information: Brandi Willard – [email protected]

SOURCE CityGrid Media