Yellow Page Facts

There are over 7,000 telephone directories in the United States that are members of the Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association (YPIMA).

There are over 120 different publishers of telephone directories in the US and over 180 companies designated as Certified Marketing Representatives who place advertising for national clients.

Not all phone books come out at the same time; there are 365 different "close dates" (or deadlines) for submitting ads.



The 120+ Yellow Pages publishers have over 4,800 different "UDAC's" (Universal Directory Advertising Codes) used to identify items of advertising available in their directories!

Certified Marketing Representatives earn a commission from the publishers for the advertising placed for clients. The publishers determine directory advertising rates and national advertisers should not pay a premium. If your Yellow Pages agency is marking up your rates or charging additional service fees, give us a call!

Advertisers invest over $12 billion a year in the Yellow Pages. Revenue from "local" advertisers accounts for 84% of the total and "national" advertisers makes up 16% of the total.

Directories come in different sizes and formats. Smaller books (sized like TV Guide) usually have 2 columns per page with larger directories having 3, 4 or 5 column formats. Click here to view sample Yellow Page ads.

There are basically five different types of telephone books and two types of publishers:

Publishers-

  • "Bell" publishers also provide local telephone service in the area.
  • "Independent" publishers do not provide telephone service in the area.
    Note that "Bell" publishers may be considered independent when they distribute directories in markets where they are not the primary provider of local telephone service.

Types of directories-

  • Area wide or overlay -Large directory(ies) covering a metropolitan
    area or covering part of a metropolitan area.
  • Suburban or neighborhood - Covers a smaller, localized portion of
    an area already covered by a larger directory.
  • Special Interest - Targeted to reach specific consumer groups such
    as college directories, women's directories or directories that target demographic groups.
  • Business to business - There are 19 directories that cater to businesses
    and have headings that are tailored to businesses.
  • Electronic directories - These are interactive versions of the traditional printed product. Internet Yellow Pages are offered by all the "bell" companies as well as by Web companies like Yahoo, Lycos and AOL.
Top 300 Yellow Page Headings (2002)

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