The Reach Of The Yellow Pages

American Demographics, Nov 1, 2002 by Sandra Yin

And there's more good news: The share of adults who use the print YP has held steady since 1985, despite the advent of the Internet. The bad news is that people turn to the directories slightly less often than before: Weekly usage in 2000 averaged 1.4 references a week, where it remains today. This is down from 1.8 references a week in 1996, according to Knowledge Networks/SRI.

The changing demographics of the population is a factor in the decline. An increase in the minority population means that there are more immigrants who lack a history of using the YP, thereby reducing usage rates, says Burton Michaels, vice president of Knowledge Networks/SRI. For example, the Mexican American population in Southern California has increased, but frequency of YP usage in that area has declined to one reference per week today, from two references per week in 1985-1986.

The relative aging of the population is another factor, because older age groups have historically been lighter YP users. For example, between 1985 and 2000, the size of the 18 to 34 age cohort in Arizona dropped to 25 percent from 49 percent, while the number of those 50 and older increased to 47 percent from 23 percent. The growth of the older population was accompanied by a drop in the frequency of YP usage, to 1.8 references per week from 2.9.

Not to be ignored is the Internet's small but growing impact on the directories, as an increasing number of people go online to search for the products and services they need. In 2001, almost 1 in 3 (27 percent) said they used the Internet to look for products and services instead of consulting the YP, up from 17 percent in 1998, according to Knowledge Networks/SRI. As information seekers increasingly refer to the Net for such categories as furniture, florists and travel, online directory use may eat into print directory use.

Analyst John Kelsey, president and CEO of the Kelsey Group, a Princeton, N.J.-based research consulting firm that specializes in the YP industry, believes that within five years the Internet directories (including switchboard.com and Yahoo!'s Yellow Pages) will take market share away from the print YP, as many more homes will have quicker Web access because of broadband connections. Today, online lookups make up just 10 percent of all YP references and account for only 2 percent of revenue, he says. But assuming print usage remains flat and Internet searches continue to rise by at least 25 percent a year, by 2006 the Internet's market share of revenues could be as high as 35 percent, says Kelsey. So far, however, says Dennis Fromholzer, president of CRM Associates, "We do not see a drop in the percentage of customers using Yellow Pages, in weekly Yellow Pages reach or in calls received by advertisers."

YP users are most likely to be between 25 and 49 and to be well educated, with some college experience behind them. The higher the household income, the more likely one is to refer to the YP. Some 64 percent of consumers from households earning $60,000 or more per year refer to the publications weekly. People who move a lot also have a greater tendency to turn to the directories for help, whether they're looking for pizza, painters or pet groomers. Past-week YP use is also heavier among those who have traveled in the prior year (62 percent) compared with those who have not (43 percent).