European consumers will spend â‚Ź9 billion online on this year’s Christmas shopping, almost as much as US consumers, according to a new report by Forrester Research. Europe’s 166 million regular online shoppers are expected to spend 24% of 2003’s total online retail expenditure in the run up to Christmas, totalling â‚Ź9 billion. In the same… Continue reading European Christmas Online Retail To Hit €9bn, Says Forrester

Richard Desmond, proprietor of Express Newspapers, is understood to have instructed his financial advisors to put together a bid for the Telegraph Group, amid increasing interest in the assets of parent company Hollinger International (see Black Leaves Troubled Hollinger As Predators Circle). The Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) is also understood to be among… Continue reading Desmond Puts Together Bid For Telegraph Titles

Capital Radio is to buy London urban radio group, Choice FM, for around £15 million, it announced this morning. Capital already owns 19% of the Choice group, which it acquired in September 2001 for £3.3 million (see Capital Radio Takes Stake In Choice FM). Choice operates two Hip Hop and R&B-based stations – 96.9FM in… Continue reading Capital Radio Takes Choice FM For £15m

Pre-tax profits at GWR Group almost trebled during the six months to September, up from £2.2 million in H1 2002 to £6.4 million this time. Sales at the group, which owns Classic FM, have improved at a faster rate than the industry as a whole, with UK radio advertising revenues up by 5% versus around… Continue reading GWR Profits Treble With Strong Local Group Performance

UK display advertising will grow by just 0.5% this year, before shooting up to 6.3% growth during 2004, according to the latest set of quarterly forecasts from the Advertising Association (AA). Display growth so far this year has been weak, at just 0.7% and 0.4% for the first two quarters respectively. Moving into Q3, the… Continue reading Advertising Association UK Display Forecasts

The latest long-term UK advertising forecasts, published by the Advertising Association, are shown below. The figures were published in October 2003 and include a high (optimistic) and low (pessimistic) scenario. UK Total Advertising Long Term Forecasts              High Option  Low Option    Revenue (£m)  Growth  Revenue (£m)  Growth  2003 13,376… Continue reading Long Term UK Ad Growth Forecasts From The AA

The increasing popularity of high speed broadband services helped push the number of ISP subscriptions up by 4.1% year on year during September, according to new figures from the Office Of National Statistics (ONS). The latest Index of Internet Connectivity report shows that the number of people connected to ISPs rose by 0.8% month on… Continue reading Broadband Continues To Drive Internet Uptake

BSkyB’s digital satellite service will reach almost nine million homes in four years’ time, whilst cable is left trailing, according to the latest projection from Merrill Lynch analysts. The forecasts show that whilst cable’s growth is virtually flat and BSkyB’s begins to level off, the free digital terrestrial (DTT) service, Freeview, will continue to make… Continue reading BSkyB To Reach Almost 9m Subs By 2008, Say Forecasts

BT has called on the Government and industry to back its target of achieving 100% broadband coverage for every UK community by 2005. The telecoms incumbent already makes mass market broadband available to more than 80% of British households and is set to upgrade its internet exchanges to serve 90% of the population by the… Continue reading BT Targets 100% Broadband By 2005

Major US cable and DSL providers added a combined total of more than two million high-speed internet subscribers in the third quarter of 2003, according to the latest figures from Leichtman Research Group. Net additions for the quarter were the largest ever and half a million higher than in the previous quarter (see Broadband Growth… Continue reading Record Quarter For US Broadband Providers