Sensis

What Sensis does

Sensis is Australia's leading marketing services company, providing digital, print, and data solutions to more than 100,000 small and medium businesses across the country. The company traces its origins to Australia's first telephone book in 1880 and operates an iconic portfolio of brands including Yellow Pages, White Pages, True Local, Whereis, and Found Digital, with registered trademarks and distribution infrastructure across all Australian states and territories. Its core product stack spans digital and print business directories, search engine marketing and optimization, social media advertising, digital display, website building and hosting, and data validation services, complemented by a developer-facing business search API and the White Pages Connect listing-synchronization platform covering 30+ channels including Google and Facebook.

The company runs a subscription-based revenue model with tiered pricing — from free basic listings through $79/month websites, $300/month SEM campaigns, and $500+/month local SEO — and reaches customers through a hybrid go-to-market combining field sales, phone-based inside sales, digital self-service portals, and print directory distribution. Sensis traces its legal entity to Sensis Pty Ltd (ABN 30 007 423 912), headquartered in Melbourne. In March 2021, Thryv Holdings, Inc. acquired Sensis from Platinum Equity and Telstra for approximately $200 million in cash, and on 1 September 2021 Sensis formally rebranded to Thryv Australia, integrating the Australian business into Thryv's SMB software platform strategy. Key strategic partners include Microsoft Advertising and Telstra, with the company maintaining active research collaborations such as the RMIT University social media data partnership.

Name

Sensis

Legal name

Sensis Pty Ltd

Website

https://sensis.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

1880

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Sensis (now Thryv Australia) is Australia's leading marketing services company, providing digital and print directory listings, SEO/SEM, websites, social advertising, and data solutions to over 100,000 small and medium businesses across Australia, acquired by Thryv Holdings in March 2021 for approximately $200 million.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Business Directory and Digital Marketing Services

NAICS

Directory and Mailing List Publishers (51314), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418), Advertising Agencies (541810)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

POI, Local Listings & Business Directory Platforms (BPAMANAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Local Search & Business Directories (BPAMAAAE)

Keywords

• Business directory services
• Digital marketing services
• Search engine marketing
• Local business listings
• SMB advertising solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

Melbourne

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Digital Directory Listings: Paid business listings in Yellow Pages and White Pages digital platforms
2. Print Directory Listings: Paid listings in printed Yellow Pages and White Pages directories
3. Search Engine Marketing: Paid search advertising services including SEM campaigns and Google AdWords management
4. Search Engine Optimization: SEO services to improve business rankings in organic search results
5. Website Products: Website building and hosting services for businesses
6. Social Media Advertising: Social media ad management and campaigns across platforms like Facebook
7. Data Solutions: Data validation and customer database management services
8. Digital Display Advertising: Banner advertising across Australian websites, apps and social media

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Sensis provides business directory listings and digital marketing services to Australian small and medium businesses. Its core offerings span Yellow Pages and White Pages directories in digital and print formats, local search platforms (True Local, Whereis), search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media advertising, digital display advertising, website building, and data validation solutions. The company also operates Found Digital, a digital agency for premium customers, and offers a business search API for developers.

Product overview

Sensis is Australia's leading marketing services company offering a comprehensive portfolio of digital and print products. The core offering centers on business directories: Yellow Pages (digital and print) for business-to-consumer search, and White Pages for residential and business listings across online, mobile, print, and voice channels. The product ecosystem includes local search platforms (True Local, Whereis), digital marketing services (SEO, SEM, Social Ads, Digital Display), website creation, data solutions, and a developer API. White Pages Connect provides centralized listing management across 30+ platforms. The company also operates Found Digital as its premium digital agency. Following the March 2021 acquisition by Thryv Holdings, Sensis rebranded to Thryv Australia in September 2021.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Yellow Pages: Digital and print business directory listings
• White Pages
• True Local
• Whereis
• Skip
• Found Digital

Products and services

• Yellow Pages Digital

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• R U OK?minorOthersSensis is the official charity partner and digital partner for R U OK?, helping Australians feel connected and start meaningful conversations. Sensis developed a new website for the organization and matches funds raised during annual Christmas fundraising.
• PetRescueminorOthersSensis partnered with PetRescue for the 'Bring me Inside' campaign in 2015/16, helping rehome approximately 46,000 pets through Yellow Pages and White Pages awareness campaigns.
• Country Women's Association (CWA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSensis partnered with CWA for the 'In Search of Baking Legends' program on 2016/17 book covers, raising awareness of CWA's work in regional and rural Australian communities.
• Microsoft AdvertisingcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSensis is a Microsoft Advertising partner, managing advertising campaigns across Microsoft's advertising network. Won Channel Partner of the Year in 2019 and Community Response Award in 2021.
• RMIT UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSensis partnered with RMIT University for a second year to leverage Sensis/Glow data for social media projects, exploring benefits and implications of digital media platforms.
• TelstracoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFollowing acquisition by Thryv, Sensis continues its partnership with Telstra to provide services meeting their regulatory obligations. Previously co-owned Sensis with Platinum Equity.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• HubSpot: Public SMB-focused CRM, marketing automation, and customer service software platform with broad international reach. Competes for the same Australian SMB marketing software wallet as Sensis/Thryv Australia, particularly on SEO content tools, marketing automation, and CRM, though at a much larger scale and broader product scope.
• Thryv Holdings: NASDAQ-listed SMB software platform and parent company of Sensis following its March 2021 acquisition. Provides CRM, marketing automation, and workflow SaaS to SMBs in the US and now Australia; directly relevant because Sensis is being integrated into the Thryv product suite and competes in the same SMB marketing software category.

Direct peers

• Hibu (formerly Yell Group US operations): US-based digital marketing and directory services provider for SMBs, successor to Yellow Book USA. Offers websites, SEO/SEM, social media, and listing management to local businesses; directly comparable business model, customer segment, and product mix to Sensis.
• Dex Media: US-based marketing services provider for SMBs offering directory listings, SEO, websites, social media, and display advertising; spun out of the R.H. Donnelley yellow pages business. Highly comparable in heritage (print directory origins), customer profile (US SMBs), and full-funnel SMB marketing stack.
• Yelp: Online local business directory and reviews platform serving consumers and SMBs primarily in North America. Comparable as a digital-first local listing and discovery platform competing for the same SMB marketing wallet, though Yelp is digital-only and consumer-led rather than print-rooted.
• Yellow Pages Canada (Yellow Pages Digital & Media Solutions): Canadian operator of the Yellow Pages and Canada411 print and digital directory brands serving Canadian SMBs with directory listings, digital marketing, and media services. Closest international peer given identical Yellow Pages branding heritage, similar SMB customer base, and overlapping directory-plus-digital-marketing product portfolio.

Regional players

• Justdial: India's leading local search and business directory platform serving consumers and SMBs across multiple Indian cities. Comparable directory-plus-discovery business model and SMB customer base, though operating exclusively in India and not directly competing with Sensis geographically.
• Páginas Amarillas (YPF / Telexplorer): Spanish-language yellow pages and digital marketing operator across Latin America and Spain serving SMBs with directory listings and digital marketing services. Comparable directory heritage, SMB focus, and digital-plus-print product mix, but geographically distinct from Sensis.

Others

• Localeze (Neustar Localeze): Business listings data and identity management provider that aggregates and distributes SMB data to publishers, search engines, and apps. Comparable through Sensis Data Solutions and White Pages Connect's role in synchronizing listings across 30+ platforms, though Localeze operates as a data infrastructure layer rather than a consumer-facing directory.

Emerging players

• Foursquare: Location technology and POI data platform offering places data, location-based marketing, and consumer discovery experiences. Comparable through Whereis mapping and the local-discovery use case, though Foursquare is more data-and-API oriented and less SMB-direct than Sensis.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Sensis_au
• Facebookfacebook.com/sensis
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sensis_226774

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sensis