• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 14, 2011

BIA/Kelsey, a research and advisory firm covering local media, has introduced a new Local Media Index based on market capitalization of publicly held local media companies. The online index, which allows users to compare the performance of local media companies against the economy as a whole, covers market segments including radio, broadcast television, cable television, Yellow Pages, online local, outdoor advertising and diversified local media organizations.

Each week, BIA/Kelsey will update market comparisons for specific local media segments, benchmarked against the S&P 500 index, on the new BIA/Kelsey corporate Web site, relaunched this week.

General improvements to the site include improved navigation to give users easier access to data and analysis, such as highlights from the firm's semi-annual Local Media Forecast. In addition, users can access public and registration-only content in categories like research and forecasts, advisory services and consulting and valuations.

Like a number of other media research and analytic players, BIA/Kelsey is positioning itself to feed growing interest and demand for more thorough, precise data about local media companies and their markets.

Beginning back in March 2008, Scarborough Research has steadily expanded its research and measurement services beyond the top 81 media markets, to include dozens of "mid-tier" markets.

In December, 2010 Borrell Associates acquired Belden Associates, which tracks digital ad spending by local business. Borrell is forecasting a surge in local spending over the next couple of years, with total local online spending set to grow 17.6% from $13.6 billion in 2010 to $16 billion in 2011.

Indeed, there should be plenty of activity for the local research firms to follow. A multisided showdown is shaping up between players vying for local ad spending through search, offered by Google, Bing, and Yahoo; mobile location-based social media like Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Facebook, and others; and group discount coupon services, including Groupon.