After the upheavals of recent weeks, Cordiant Communications, the struggling advertising group, has today been given a two month deadline to get its affairs in order. Lenders have confirmed that they will continue financing agreements until mid-July, sufficient time for management to devise a survival strategy. “The company has now signed a definitive agreement with… Continue reading Cordiant Gets Breathing Space From Creditors

At-work internet users are a potentially lucrative audience and marketers would be well advised to devote a portion of their advertising budget towards reaching these people by day, according to new research from the US this week. The study carried out by the Online Publishers Association in association with Millward Brown IntelliQuest sought to examine… Continue reading Advertisers Eye At-Work Surfers

Despite its recent rise to prominence, WLAN is unlikely to mount a serious challenge to 3G in the future. That is according to new analysis from Strand Consult. While WLAN offers faster online access than mobile phones, the research suggests there are a number of factors to be addressed before it can be compared with… Continue reading WLAN Poses Little Threat To 3G, Says Research

Digital television forecasts for 43 countries are shown below, courtesy of Informa Media. The US is forecast to have nearly 45 million digital households, some 46% of the world’s total, by the end of 2003. Penetration will rise to 105 million homes at the end of decade, equivalent to 27% of the global total. The… Continue reading Global Digital TV Rankings From Informa Media

French advertising network, Havas, has posted first quarter financial results that show a significant slow-down in revenues in the UK and US. These regions comprise around two-thirds of Havas’ business. Total group revenues were €402 million, down by 19.8% on Q1 2002. Within this, Europe fell by 15.1% to €197 million, with Germany, Italy and… Continue reading Havas Revenues Show Weak UK And US, No Recovery Until 2004

News Corporation yesterday reported a return to third quarter profits as a strong performance from the television unit overshadowed losses at the newspaper business. The media giant said that revenues were up 14% year on year to $4.4 billion as income rose in the the US TV and cinema sectors. Fox Broadcasting has enjoyed ratings… Continue reading Profits Boost For News Corp In Q3

First quarter revenues at NASDAQ-listed UK cable operator, NTL, were more or less flat year on year, down from £556.1 million to £546.5 million. NTL’s business growth was essentially put on hold until January this year, when it emerged from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedure (see NTL Emerges From Bankruptcy) that alleviated its substantial debt.… Continue reading NTL Returns To Growth After Chapter 11

French advertising network, Publicis Groupe, has reported strong first quarter revenues and record new business wins and said it sees some encouraging signs in the development of the market. Consolidated group revenues were up by 57% year on year to €905 million. This strong performance is due to the consolidation of the agencies of the… Continue reading Publicis Sees Encouraging Signs As Q1 Improves

Global market research firm, Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), has this morning confirmed that it plans to buy NFO Worldgroup for $425 million. The announcement comes after a preliminary statement from TNS last week, in which it confirmed that discussions with NFO’s owner, Interpublic Group, were underway (see Taylor Nelson Looks At NFO WorldGroup Acquisition). Based… Continue reading TNS Shares Jump On $425m NFO Worldgroup Acquisition

Omnicom and WPP are performing most strongly of the major global agencies, whilst Havas and Interpublic Group are weaker, according to the recent round of first quarter financial results. Data compiled by Lehman Brothers in the graph below show that Omnicom’s figures are considerably ahead for both organic growth and reported revenues, whilst Havas remains… Continue reading First Quarter Ad Agency Performance Comparisons