Post date: Aug 16, 2011 5:42:38 PM
The Time Out Group, known for its city guides, has acquired the personalisation software company LikeCube, which it says will help it to give internet users better recommendations, which are more tailored to their tastes.
Whether you're a Londoner or just visiting the city - you want to know the best places to go, the best things to see.
Since its creation in 1968, the Time Out guide has been used by locals and tourists to do just that.
The idea has been wildly successful, expanding into 32 other cities. But it's been slow to adapt its offering for new digital platforms.
Now the Time Out Group is hoping to move with the times, acquiring software company LikeCube.
CEO David King says this will enable them to make better recommendations to people using Time Out on the web or on their phones.
David King, Time Out Group CEO, saying
"Making it relevant to the individual. Now at the moment when we print something in the magazine, it's obviously got to be slightly more generic, slightly broader. But as we understand how people behave online as they interact with our website, as they book restaurants, each interaction they have with us allows us to understand a little bit more about what they like doing and allows us to connect them with the relevant rather than the more generic recommedation which used to be possible in print."
Eleanor Ford is the co-founder of LikeCube. She says they gather data about people's interests when they use the internet.
Eleanor Ford, Co-founder of LikeCube, saying
"If you've written a review or you've given a rating, fantastic. But also if you've just looked at somewhere, if you've booked somewhere, that's also, it gives a lighter signal, but still gives some kind of signal on what kinds of things you're interested in looking at. So we can use all this kind of data to generate something that's more meaningful to you."
Time Out say buying LikeCube is the next step in their digital strategy, which began when the private equity fund Oakley Capital took a stake in the firm in late 2010.
Time Out launched its mobile app at the end of 2009, but it's been criticised for being too slow to complement its print edition with dynamic digital services.
David King, Time Out Group CEO, saying
"We got a website out very quickly but then we didn't then take advantage of the potential of the web. And so to some extent we're in catch-up but in some extent we're trying to leapfrog some of the things you can do and actually provide people with a better experience."
The magazine is still profitable, but Time Out know they have to push their digital editions to grow.
While they sell 50,000 magazines a month in London, July saw a record two and a half million unique users visit their London site.
The new website launches in November in New York and London.
And they have big expansion plans - aiming to have a guide for at least 50 cities around the world.
Joanna Partridge, Reuters