• by Erik Sass , December 14, 2009

The publisher of New York magazine is partnering with Clickable, which specializes in pay-per-click and search marketing, to provide its local ad clients with more online lead generation opportunities. The new service, "New York Connects," covers various New York Media properties, all with a substantial local advertising focus, including the New York magazine Web site, the New York Weddings Web site MenuPages.com, and the Grub Street network of food blogs.

Clickable will help New York Media advertisers identify and engage with potential customers who are researching particular products and services by optimizing advertising across a number of channels, including major search engines and display advertising.

Clickable is also providing measurement and reporting of results to evaluate campaign performance.

The New York Connects service is being rolled out for advertisers in specific categories, beginning with wedding vendors and dentists, and will soon include spas, architects, home renovators and interior designers. All are set to launch in 2010.

The New York Media announcement comes after several media research firms released forecasts predicting that local advertising will be key to future online growth for newspaper and magazine publishers and local broadcasters.

Although Borrell Associates believes total local online advertising will grow at a relatively modest 5% pace in 2010, Borrell analysts also believe that local's share of online ad dollars will increase through 2013, when it will peak at 16%.

Meanwhile, BIA Kelsey identified local online advertising as a potential growth area for radio, provided it takes advantage of channels like mobile search and local mobile video.