Pay per performance search firm Overture has signed new contextual advertising deals with Guardian Newspapers, the Financial Times and Independent News and Media.The Yahoo! backed company said the deal will see it provide contextual advertising on all channels of www.guardian.co.uk and www.observer.co.uk. Previously it had only displayed listing on the Travel and Money channels.The deal… Continue reading Overture Signs Raft Of Contextual Advertising Deals

Associated Newspapers has announced the appointment of Kevin Beatty as its new managing director, replacing Murdoch MacLennan, who is leaving the company to become chief executive of the rival Telegraph Group.Beatty, who is currently managing director of Northcliffe Newspapers Group, is a widely respected newspaper executive with a significant amount of industry experience. As well… Continue reading Associated Appoints Beatty As New Managing Director

Radio audience measurement body RAJAR is considering plans to release its quarterly listening figures earlier in the day following enquiries from a number of commercial radio stations.A number of large market-listed broadcasters are understood to have pointed out that under the current system they receive the data at 6:00 am, five hours before it goes… Continue reading RAJAR Ponders Timing Of Quarterly Data Release

Aegis has created the UK’s largest online buying point following the launch of a new digital media agency called Diffiniti to replace the ageing Carat Interactive brand.The new agency, which has been created in response to the growing role of new media in the marketing mix, will handle billings in excess of £34 million for… Continue reading Aegis Forms UK’s Largest Online Media Buying Point

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising has secured some of the UK’s biggest media owners to support the long-awaited launch of the industry’s first single-source media planning tool.The new TouchPoints initiative is the result of an extensive industry-wide consultation and has been created to fill the gaps between the existing trading currencies used across different… Continue reading IPA Unveils Single Source Media Planning Tool

Channel 4 enjoyed another night of record audiences on Friday with 9 million viewers tuning in to watch Portuguese transsexual Nadia snatch the £63,500 prize fund after being crowned series winner in the finalé of Big Brother 5.The culmination of this year’s Big Brother proved that there is still life in the ageing reality-TV format,… Continue reading Big Brother Finalé Attracts Record 9 Million Viewers

Weekly magazine subscriptions look set to receive a boost with the launch of a new promotion from the Royal Mail offering publishers low-cost distribution through the post.The promotion will see magazines with an existing subscription-base receive a 25% discount on distribution costs as long as they recorded fewer than 5% subscription sales in the latest… Continue reading Magazine Subscriptions Boosted By Royal Mail Initiative

ITV has today revealed that its new digital channel for older viewers, ITV3, will launch in November as a free-to-air offering showcasing Hollywood movies and classic dramas such as Cold Feet and Inspector Morse.It is thought that ITV’s third mainstream channel, targeting upmarket viewers over the age of 35 with an appetite for drama, will… Continue reading ITV3 To Launch As Free-To-Air Offering In November

Competition in the fledgling men’s weekly magazine market looks set to hot up later this year with news that Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers is planning the launch of a new title provisionally called KO!.A spokesman for the publisher’s parent company, Northern & Shell, confirmed this morning that the name KO! was registered last month in… Continue reading Desmond To Knock Out Competition In Men’s Weekly Market

ITV Sales has strengthened its advertiser relationships team with two key appointments ahead of plans for a major client marketing drive to improve its image.ITV has hired two senior account directors and is looking for another high-profile agency figure to head the twelve-strong team, which was created following the merger of Carlton and Granada to… Continue reading ITV Raids Agencies To Bolster Advertiser Relationships Team