Andrew Flanagan, chief executive of SMG, said that he remains cautious about advertising conditions moving into the second half of the year, despite there being some signs of gradual improvement beginning in the autumn. Announcing SMG’s first half financial results today, Flanagan said that the early part of the summer months remained weak in advertising… Continue reading SMG Remains Cautious On Advertising Upturn

The internet actually impacts more spending offline than online, according to a survey from The Dieringer Research Group. The American Interactive Consumer Survey found that in the previous twelve months, consumers spent a total of $93.1 billion on direct online purchases. However, spending on goods and services purchased offline on the basis of online research… Continue reading Internet-Influenced Offline Spending 50% Higher Than Online Spending

Advertising pages in the US business press increased by almost 1% in June, the first such rise since November 2000, according to the latest figures from American Business Media (ABM). The data shows that ad pages were up 0.9% year on year while spending climbed 4.9%. The growing strength of the B2B market is reflected… Continue reading US B2B Ad Volumes & Spend On The Rise

BT announced yesterday that four out of five homes in the UK can now get ADSL broadband internet services. However, new figures from Point Topic show that Britain still trails many countries in terms of DSL penetration. By July last year, BT had succeeded in connecting two-thirds of the country to ADSL exchangers. 25 new… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: UK Aims To Join The Broadband Elite

Aegis Group, the global media and advertising network, has reported revenues up by 7.8% in the first half of 2003, in what the group describes as ‘patchy’ market conditions. Pre-tax profits remained more or less flat at £30.9 million, up from £30.0 million in H1 2002. Aegis Media – which includes Carat, Vizeum, Posterscope and… Continue reading Aegis Posts Improving Revenues In ‘Patchy’ Conditions

Announcing its first half financial results today (see Aegis Posts Improving Revenues In ‘Patchy’ Conditions), the global media network Aegis Group also gave an update on the state of the advertising and media markets across the world. The overriding picture is of a mixed performance between regions, with some growth emerging in the US, stronger… Continue reading US And Asia-Pacific Media Markets Outperform Europe, Says Aegis

The vexing question of how publishers can make money online will be the hot topic at Beyond the Printed World, a conference to be held in Rome next month. The event, organised by the media technology association Ifra, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP), will feature… Continue reading Global Publishers To Examine New Online Strategies

European mobile phone operators are hoping to grow the share of their revenues derived from data services from the current 12% to 30% by 2008. However, according to a survey conducted by Forrester Research, they are facing a number obstacles, with one key problem being the current limitations of billing technology. Real-time billing systems are… Continue reading European Mobile Operators Struggle With New Services

Following an investigation of the bidding process, the European Commission is expected to register its disapproval at the way BSkyB was able to secure all four rights packages in the recent auction of live Premiership football matches. According to a report in The Observer, the commission will renew its ‘statement of objections’ if it finds… Continue reading EC Stance Threatens BSkyB Football Deal

BSkyB is believed to be planning a restructure of its pricing scheme in an attempt to increase the number of people buying its Sky Plus personal video recorder (PVR) service and to boost the company’s average revenue per user (APRU) figures. Reports suggest that sales of Sky Plus have so far been disappointing, with just… Continue reading BSkyB Looks To Boost Sky Plus PVR Sales