Tim Schoonmaker, the Emap radio chief executive who resigned suddenly last week, is planning to team up with venture capital companies to bid for radio groups in the newly deregulated market place. Schoonmaker, who ran Emap’s radio and digital television operations, announced his intention to step down last week, in a move that caused surprised… Continue reading Emap Radio Boss Linked To Venture Capital Groups

US shoppers spent a record $18.5 billion online during the 2003 holiday season, according to the latest eSpending Report from Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings. This figure, which does not include travel, is 35% higher than the $13.7 billion outlay recorded for November and December 2002 and indicates growing customer demand for ecommerce. “Online… Continue reading Online Santa Delivers The Goods In Record Style

Despite having recently cut its 2003 radio advertising growth forecast, Merrill Lynch is confident that the the next twelve months will bring strong growth with revenues expected to increase by more than 8%. The broker reacted to November’s 4% drop in US radio advertising revenues by cutting its full-year growth projection from 1.6% to 1.5%… Continue reading 2004 Radio Recovery To Be ‘Back-End Loaded’, Says Merrill Lynch

More than 50 million homes in Europe, the US and Asia will have Wi-Fi access by 2007, according to research by BWCS. At the end of 2003, there were around 80 million broadband households worldwide, compared to just 5 million Wi-Fi-enabled homes. Most networks are located in the US and the market leader will account… Continue reading Home Wi-Fi In The Ascendency

Encouraging sales of magazines should enable Future Network, the international publisher, to post an increase in revenues for 2003, the company said today. Future stated that trading patterns had remained positive in the final months of the year and annual turnover is expected to exceed that for 2002 by 11%. In a statement today, the… Continue reading Future Network Stays On Track

Media and advertising organisations entered the New Year in a positive frame of mind following a number of encouraging pronouncements from doyens of the industry. Global adspend is predicted to grow by around 5% in 2004 with the US leading the way and Europe again showing signs of competitivemess. Definitive figures for last year will… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: Media Healthcheck – December 2003

The US broadband audience grew by 27% between May and November 2003 as high-speed internet access became a desirable resource in American homes. Nielsen//NetRatings reports that 49.5 million, or 38% of all home internet users now access the web using broadband. The number is up from 39 million in May. Narrowband connections remained flat at… Continue reading US Broadband Population Approaches 50 Million

Multichannel television now reaches more than half of UK homes, according to the most recent figures from the Independent Television Commission (now incorporated into the communications regulator Ofcom). The Q3 2003 report, released just before Christmas, shows that multichannel TV is now received by 51.2% of all homes, up from 49.8% in Q2 (see INSIGHTanalysis:… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: More Than Half Of UK Receives Multichannel TV

Market information provider, Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) says it is confident that 2003 turnover will meet expectations and believes that its performance will mirror the industry as a whole in the coming year. TNS acknowledges that the speed of the integration of NFO, the research business acquired from Interpublic last year (see TNS Shares Jump… Continue reading Taylor Nelson Looks To Build On 2003 Successes

Perceptions of the brand value of different newspapers may have to be reconsidered in the light of recent developments in the UK market according to the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Last autumn saw the launch of a tabloid version of the The Independent, a move which resulted in increased sales of the title in… Continue reading Broadsheets Living On Borrowed Time, Says Association