IAC will relaunch an
online media company Thursday that connects Web and mobile publishers with local advertising organizations. The strategy renames Citysearch LLC as CityGrid Media, which becomes the umbrella for local
advertising network CityGrid, as well as publishing sites Citysearch, Insider Pages and Urbanspoon.
CityGrid Media will continue to connect the 750,000 advertisers with the more than 100
million consumers who visit the sites through about 150 publishers. Jay Herratti will run the CityGrid Media group as chief executive officer. About a year ago, he brought in Kara Nortman as senior
vice president for the publishing group.
As the local market "explodes" as Google, Microsoft and Bing move deeper into the space, Herratti will continue to build a network of sites and
services to support local businesses. The people supporting the business have been in place for at least a year. Herratti laid out the strategy in 2008.
"The local industry is growing at about
15% annually," he says. "I want to beat that. And if things go well, I expect that to happen."
Today, CityGrid Media has made incremental changes, but if Herratti plans to reach his goal it
will take "growth in multiples, and I'm not there yet, because I'm just starting," he says.
CityGrid Media went public with the plan in January. This is version 1.0, he says. The next step is
to focus on improving the company's core ad engine and data because better pricing and geotargeting keep partners happy.