Less than two years after spending $225 million to buy its telephone directory rival Canpages Inc., Yellow Media Inc. has decided to discontinue the distribution of the Canpages print directories. Canpages used to publish secondary telephone directories in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta in direct competition with Yellow Media’s print publications. The company announced that the Canpages print operations are being folded into Yellow Pages Group’s operations. It should be noted that consumers will continue to receive a print directory and there will be no gap in coverage for advertisers. Yellow Media also owned and operated Canpages.ca which, at the time of its acquisition, was attracting 3.5 million unique visitors per month. The company announced that the Canpages.ca web site will remain operational but will be revamped later this year to be a compliment of the Yellowpages.ca site.
This is not a surprising move as we continue to see an evolution of the consumers’ usage of directional media. However, as demonstrated in the latest DAC Landscape study, print directories remain an important source of leads for advertisers.
DAC is working actively to ensure that our clients will not be adversely affected. Even though some Canpages directories are being published this year, our Account teams are reaching out to those clients affected so that we can provide them with suitable alternatives if necessary.
Contact us if you have any questions!
Mario Lemieux, President, DAC / Canada
