Believe it or not, local phone number purchases are being viewed as economic indicators, akin to the unemployment rate, GDP, CPI, housing starts, the Dow, retail sales and broadband Internet penetration. Cloud telephony provider CallFire, which says it processes billions of phone calls, analyzed local-phone-number purchase patterns by its small business customers nationwide from mid-September 2008 to December 2012. According to its data, “some states are on fire, others are positively chilly and the rest are somewhere in between.” The “hot states” include Arizona, New Jersey, California, Washington and Nevada. “Local phone number purchases can serve as a proxy for small business economic activity, largely because businesses typically purchase phone numbers to track marketing spending,” explains CEO Dinesh Ravishanker, pointing out that the numbers are “trackable” in that businesses place different numbers on specific ads, billboards, email campaigns, etc., to judge the effectiveness of that spend. The more numbers purchased, the more marketing campaigns are being tracked. Who’s not hot? North and South Dakota, West Virginia, Iowa and Mississippi, the five “coldest.”

The Daily

Subscribe

The Cable Comeback

Commentary by Steve Effros It’s happening faster than I thought it would: the realization that the “cable” model of delivering video was the right, and probably only workable business model. “Cable”

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Apr 25
2024 Cablefax 100 Awards Magazine Release: April 25, 2024
Jun 13
2024 American Broadband Congress Conference Registration is Open!
Jun 26
2024 FAXIES Awards Nominations Are Open!
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB?
VIEW JOBS

Hiring? In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors, The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact Rob Hudgins, [email protected], for more information.