ZenithOptimedia has revised upwards it global advertising spending forecast for this year from 4.2% to 6.2% as world-wide advertising confidence holds despite oil and consumer uncertainties.After Zenith’s cautious forecasts in April, the group returned to its crystal ball and has revised all global predictions upwards. The updated report says, by 2005 the global advertising expenditure… Continue reading Advertising Market Looks Set To Grow By 6.2%

Consumer magazine publisher, Future Network, has said that it will be launching at least nine new magazines over the next 12 months and hopes that tapping in to the US action sports sector will help boost group revenues in 2005.In a pre-close trading update, Future Network said that it hopes to launch two new US… Continue reading Future To Launch Raft Of Titles Over Next Year

Chairman of British Sky Broadcasting, Rupert Murdoch, yesterday said that he expected the digital satellite group to deliver strong profits, despite the slowdown in subscription figures and the growing threat from Freeview.Murdoch, who is BSkyB’s largest shareholder and also chairman of News Corporation, said the company could withstand competition from the BBC backed free-to-air multi-channel… Continue reading Murdoch Predicts Strong Profit Growth For BSkyB

ITV is in negotiations to sell off its digital channels, Plus and Men & Motors, as part of its £600 million programme to sell off its non-core assets.The group holds a 50.5% stake in the channels parents company, Granada Sky Broadcasting, along with BSkyB who owns the remaining share. According to reports, ITV is hoping… Continue reading ITV Puts Plus and Men & Motors Under The Hammer

The rumours surrounding a merger between Channel Four and Five were given another boost when RTL boss and majority owner of Five said the group would be ‘prepared to go in to a minority position’ if the television broadcasters decided to team up.RTL, which owns two-thirds of Five, and United Business Media, which owns the… Continue reading RTL Expresses Interest In Channel 4 And Five Merger

The BBC has announced today that information technology group, Siemens, which acquired the BBC’s technology division in July, has been awarded a 10 year deal which will see the German based group delivering the Corporations technology services for the next ten years.The £2 billion two-part deal, which covers the purchase of BBC Technology and the… Continue reading Siemens Wins £2 Billion Deal From BBC Technology

The popularity of text messaging in the UK continued to grow during August, despite this traditionally being a quiet period as schools break-up and families head-off on holiday.The latest official figures from the Mobile Data Association show that a total of 2.19 billion person to person text messages were sent across the UK’s four GSM… Continue reading No Summer Break For Text Messaging Growth

Centaur Holdings, publisher of Money Marketing and Marketing Week, has experienced strong revenue growth during the second half of this year, pushing pre-tax profit to £3.4 million.The group, which was AIM listed in March this year, has saw turnover increase by 9% to £68.3 million for the year ending 30 June 2004, while advertising revenue… Continue reading Centaur Encouraged By Revenue Recovery

UBC Media, the UK’s largest independent radio production company has said, the outlook for this year is ‘positive’ and the market in which it operates continues to ‘meet expectations’.In a trading update, which backed up the chairman’s July AGM speech, the group said, “The prospects for the markets in which UBC Media Group operates continue… Continue reading UBC Claims Outlook Is Positive For This Year

The BBC has indicated that it would rather pursue partnerships or joint ventures for its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, rather than sell it or see it floated on the stock market, as previous reports have suggested.Speaking at a Royal Television Society dinner yesterday, the BBC’s director-general, Mark Thompson, confirmed the publicly-funded broadcaster was reconsidering ownership… Continue reading BBC Prefers Partnership Deals For Worldwide