Shares in Cordiant Communications were delisted today as WPP moved closer to completing the takeover of the struggling advertising group. In an anticipated move, the London Stock Exchange said this morning that securities in Cordiant had been cancelled from their official listing. There can be no more trading in the company’s stock. There is now… Continue reading WPP Closes In On Cordiant, Shares Delisted

Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the US, has announced a 6.7% increase in second quarter earnings, boosted by stronger advertising at its UK operations. The company, which has a portfolio of 100 daily newspapers in the US, including USA Today, reported that profits grew to $324.3 million from $303.9 million in Q2 2002. Similarly,… Continue reading Gannett Revenues Bolstered By Newsquest Sales

United Pan-Europe Communications, the largest cable television company in Europe, has taken a step closer to emerging from bankruptcy after the Dutch attorney general advised the supreme court to reject a creditor appeal blocking the move. Earlier this year, UPC’s restructuring programme was approved by shareholders (see UPC On The Road To Recovery) and the… Continue reading UPC Ready To Emerge From Bankruptcy

US newspaper groups Dow Jones and New York Times Company have both reported Q2 advertising revenue figures slightly ahead of Merrill Lynch analysts’ expectations. NYT saw advertising revenues rise by 3.3% to $480 million during the quarter, $3 million better than analyst forecasts. However, whilst circulation revenues rose by 4.4% to $221 million, this was… Continue reading US Newspaper Publishers See Some Ad Gains

US online advertising spend will not return to the boom levels of 2000 for another three years, according to the latest set of forecasts from eMarketer. In 2000, at the height of dotcom fever, US online advertising revenues topped $8 billion, but rapidly fell back to just $6.0 billion last year. However, growth has now… Continue reading Latest US Ad Forecasts From eMarketer

The demand for high-speed internet access via cable modem is set to drive the number of subscribers up from 27 million worldwide by mid-2003 to 34 million by the end of the year, according to a new forecast from In-Stat/MDR. With the demand for cable modem access still increasing, the research group predicts that there… Continue reading Global Cable Modem Users To Hit 68m By 2007, Says In-Stat

Over half of the heads-of-households in the US consider watching television to be important in daily life but more consumers find value in listening to music or using a PC, according to a new report from Parks Associates. In a survey for Electronic Living @ Home, consumers were asked to ascertain the importance of various… Continue reading Music Takes Priority Over TV In The Home, Says Study

The Premier League could face investigation by European competition regulators if it accepts an all-encompassing £1 billion bid for live Premiership rights from BSkyB, according to a report in The Independent today. Friday saw the deadline for bids to show Premiership football for three years from the 2004/5 season. In a bid to appease the… Continue reading BSkyB Bids To Retain Premiership Prize

Yahoo! has agreed to purchase online advertising company Overture in a deal worth over £1 billion. The agreement will see Overture become a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo!, which will take-over as the largest global player in the rapidly expanding search targeted marketing sector. Overture’s chief executive, Ted Meisel, will continue to head up the… Continue reading Yahoo! Acquires Overture In £1bn Deal

Gloomy news has emerged from the latest edition of the IPA’s Bellwether Report, which shows that more marketers are reducing their budgets than are increasing them. The report, published today, found that 29% of companies questioned are revising their current budgets downwards, with just 18% reporting an upward revision. This leaves a net balance of… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: IPA Report Shows Few Signs Of Marketing Improvement