ITV1’s Agatha Christie’s Marple topped BBC One’s film premiere of Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger, with a peak audience of 5.6 million viewers last night.The ITV1 crime drama, with a guest appearance by tennis star Greg Rusedski, gained a 24% audience share with an average 5.5 million viewers between 8pm and 10pm.BBC One’s film, about… Continue reading Agatha Christie Beats Miss Potter With 5.6 Million Viewers

News International has cut the price of The Sun across the UK to 30p today.The move comes less than a month after the company increased the price of the paper in London and the south-east by 5p to 30p, following its 0.8% year on year increase in the latest ABC figures (see The Sun Ups… Continue reading The Sun Slashes Its Cover Price Across The UK

WPP has made a £1.08 billion formal hostile takeover bid for Taylor Nelson Sofres to shareholders, following four earlier rejections by the market research company.Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP Group hopes the bid will finally put an end to TNS’s planned merger with its German rival company, Gfk.WPP’s statement said: “WPP announces that the offer document… Continue reading WPP Makes Formal Hostile Bid For TNS

Manufacturers and consumer groups have criticised a government switchover scheme, which was designed to help elderly and vulnerable viewers make the switch to digital, for being ‘stressful and confusing’.BSkyB secured a deal to aid the switchover in June, which sees them receive licence fee money to supply low-cost set top boxes for older and disabled… Continue reading Switchover Scheme Comes Under Fire

MySpace and Warner Music Entertainment have joined forces to launch a new online comedy channel, called MySpace Comedy UK.The channel will host an online comedy platform developed by Warner, Comedybox.tv, which includes rare clips from well-known comedy acts as well as new acts, animations and user-generated content.MySpace will be responsible for hosting the site and… Continue reading MySpace And Warner Team Up To Launch Online Comedy Channel

Channel 4’s Big Brother pulled in nearly 3.3 million peak viewers last night, ahead of BBC One’s Colin Jackson – The Making of Me and ITV1’s Harley Street.The daily round-up of events from the Big Brother house, which saw Maysoon leaving and the housemates failing their weekly shopping task, gained an average 14.8% audience share… Continue reading Big Brother Tops BBC And ITV With 3.3 Million Viewers

BBC Worldwide has appointed Helen Kellie, formerly of the BBC, to the new position of director of marketing.Kellie will be responsible for creating a more consumer-facing international operation, building up BBC Worldwide’s marketing and audience research functions.Reporting directly to the chief executive John Smith, Kellie will also be expected to prioritise international marketing activity and… Continue reading BBC Worldwide Appoint New Marketing Director

Media agencies are “very excited about behavioural targeting” according to Matt Simpson, talking at the AOP Behavioural Targeting Forum held in London on Wednesday.Simpson, chairman of the IPA Digital Media Group and head of OMD Group Digital, said behavioural targeting “should be able to do huge amounts”.He added: “The great thing about behavioural targeting is… Continue reading Agencies “Very Excited About Behavioural Targeting”

Behavioural targeting best practice is “all about transparency” according to assembled industry leaders at the AOP Behavioural Targeting Forum held in London yesterday.Speaking about the privacy issues surrounding behavioural targeting, Nick Barnett, commercial director at Phorm, made clear the problem was a lack of clarity to consumers.Barnett said: “The average consumer doesn’t have a clue… Continue reading “Industry Must Unite” On Behavioural Targeting Privacy Issues

The video search engine, blinkx, has launched a new remote search tool, which enables users to find and watch their favourite TV shows, from any channel, free online.blinkx’s Remote service searches the web to find all legal episodes of television programmes from the catch-up services, including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five and other channels.The company… Continue reading Blinkx Launches New Web TV Search Tool