YP and Yelp Sign Strategic Deal

ATLANTA and SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- YP, the largest local ad platform in the U.S., and Yelp (NYSE: YELP), the company that connects consumers with great local businesses, today announced that the two local search leaders have agreed to a strategic deal. The agreement will allow YP to enhance its customers' business listings on Yelp and expand their distribution within the YP Local Ad Network to include Yelp's vast consumer reach. The agreement also provides Yelp with additional means to access local businesses through YP and enrich their business listings with engaging content for consumers. 

With YP and Yelp's leading positions with local businesses and consumers, the deal will enable consumers to find and connect with even more of the great services and businesses they're already searching for online. The addition of Yelp's consumer reach as a Top 25 U.S. web and mobile property to the YP Local Ad Network will enhance value to advertisers of YP, a Top 40 U.S. web and mobile property (sources: comScore). The addition of enriched business listings via YP on Yelp will enhance value to Yelp consumers.

"This is a game changer for local businesses which will now gain industry leading consumer access to potentially reach 95 percent* of the U.S. Internet market through YP and Yelp's combined audiences," said David Krantz, CEO of YP. "We're excited to work with Yelp to deliver superior value in the local search market and look forward to collaborating on future opportunities."

"This partnership allows Yelp to tap into YP's, large, local sales force and advertiser base," said Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO of Yelp. "Yelp's significant consumer engagement combined with YP's scale and advertiser reach will help both companies grow and take local advertising to the next level."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.  

About YP
YP is a multi-billion dollar business operating the largest local ad platform in the United States.  YP's flagship consumer brands include the popular YP^SM app and YP.com, which are used by more than 70 million visitors each month in the U.S.**, and The Real Yellow Pages® directory.  For Advertisers, YP delivers leading local advertising solutions that connect the right consumers online, on mobile or in print. The YP Local Ad Network offers one ad-buy on the yp.com site that enables access to hundreds of website properties, leveraging multiple media platforms, including online, vertical and mobile search.  Through YP's network, advertisers essentially have the ability to reach 95% of monthly Internet users*.  YP services are backed by thousands of media consultants and customer service professionals in local markets across the U.S. with relationships spanning 575,000 businesses. For more information on YP, visit us at http://corporate.yp.com. Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/YP and on Twitter: @YP.

*comScore, Media Metrix (U.S.); February 2014.  Based on combined visitation to Yelp.com, the potential reach of the YP.com Network, plus YP's SEM advertising partners' publisher sites including: Google.com, Yahoo.com, Youtube.com, Bing.com.

**YP Internal Data, January 2014

About Yelp
Yelp (NYSE: YELP)  connects people with great local businesses. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in July 2004. Since then, Yelp communities have taken root in major metros across the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Singapore, Poland, Turkey, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Portugal and Mexico. Yelp had a monthly average of 120 million unique visitors in Q4 2013*. By the end of Q4 2013, Yelpers had written more than 53 million rich, local reviews, making Yelp the leading local guide for real word-of-mouth on everything from boutiques and mechanics to restaurants and dentists. Approximately 53 Million unique visitors visited Yelp via their mobile device on a monthly average basis during Q4 2013. For more information, please visit http://www.yelp.com/ or send an email to [email protected].

* Source: Google Analytics

SOURCE YP