The Q2 2008 Bellwether Report was released today, with the third consecutive quarter of cuts and to the greatest extent since 2001.Disappointing sales, rising costs and growing economic gloom were cited as reasons for companies cutting marketing budgets and it expects further cuts later in the year.All sectors within marketing have seen cuts, with the… Continue reading Q2 2008 Bellwether: Largest Marketing Budgets Cuts Since 2001

ITV’s shares rose this morning by 8% to 41.4p following reports in the weekend papers linking Endemol to ITV.John de Mol, co-founder of Dutch production company Endemol, responded to weekend reports that Endemol might be interested in ITV by saying that a combination with ITV could make sense, but all would depend on the numbers.This… Continue reading ITV Shares Rise On Back Of Speculation

The football season edges ever closer as Sky Sports and Setanta both release their fixtures lists for the first few months of the year, with more matches to be confirmed as the season progresses.Sky is pleased that the top three from last season are all live on the channel in the first weekend of the… Continue reading Football Schedule Kicks Off

MediaGuardian has released its annual guide on the top 100 most powerful people in the media industry.Its aim is to “take a snapshot of the individuals who run or influence the UK media in 2008” and it is now into its eighth year.Top of the pile is Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who are the… Continue reading MediaGuardian Releases Its Top 100 For 2008

Rumours are being quashed by News International following speculation that James Murdoch was considering axing the londonpaper.The loss making paper has had rumours growing around it over the last two weeks, but today News International issued a public statement supporting the freesheet.A spokesman said: “The londonpaper has established itself as the capital’s leading afternoon paper… Continue reading Rumours of Scrapping thelondonpaper Quashed

Daily Newspaper MarketBritain’s national daily newspapers reported an overall decline in readership of almost 2% year on year for the last six months of 2007.All dailies, with the exception of the Daily Mail and the Sun, saw a fall in readership, according to the latest NRS data, with the Guardian and the Daily Star reporting… Continue reading NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: July – December 2007

Last night’s MRG evening meeting featured a presentation from Martin Haywood from Dunnhumby on their Marketing Mix Optimisation (MMO) tool that has been created from Tesco clubcard data.Tesco is the UK’s largest retailer, with an incredible £1 in every £8 in the UK spent in store. Its loyalty card, the Tesco clubcard, now has 13… Continue reading MRG Evening Meeting: Marketing Mix Optimisation

Daily Newspaper MarketThe first six months of 2007 showed Britain’s national daily newspapers to have recorded a year on year decline in readership of just over 0.5% overall, presumably buoyed by significant news stories – from the summer floods to the foot and mouth outbreak and the Madeleine McCann case.It was a mixed picture for… Continue reading NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: June 2007

The number of internet users now stands at nearly 30.2 million, according to figures released by BMRB for the second quarter of 2007.As internet usage broke the 30 million mark for the first time, growth of 9.2% could be observed over the same period last year.The total number of people going online is now over… Continue reading Online Usage Round-Up Q2 2007: Internet Usage Breaks 30 Million Mark

May revenues fell year on year for all terrestrial channels, for the fourth month in a row, with Five seeing the largest dip at 7.5%.ITV1’s revenues also dropped by over 7%, despite the channel showing both the Champions’ League Semi Final and Final during the month, both of which should have been a large draw… Continue reading TV Market Round-Up – May 2007