The current disparity between the US and European advertising markets continued into April, with the former showing signs of improvement whilst the latter remains weak and uncertain. These conditions have been prevailing for the last few months as the US starts to pick up after the downturn, and Europe, as is expected, lags behind. The… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: Media Healthcheck – April 2003

The US television ad market is demonstrating a healthy advertiser demand, according to Merrill Lynch analysts. The broker says that information coming from both networks and agencies has “reaffirmed strong underlying trends for the current advertising marketplace.” Current scatter market prices in the US (see INSIGHTanalysis: US TV Advertising Rebounds, Radio Lags) are running between… Continue reading US TV Market Indicates Healthy Advertiser Demand, Says Merrill Lynch

The latest internet population estimates for over sixty countries appear below. They were compiled by CyberAtlas from a variety of available sources. Nielsen//NetRatings calculated that there were 580 million internet users in major markets at the end of 2002 (see Internet Usage Still Growing Worldwide) although growth is stagnating in the most developed countries. Unless… Continue reading Global Country By Country Internet Usage Figures

Mobile internet services attracted 560 million page impressions during March, according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA) and the UK’s four GSM network operators. The figure represents an increase of 16% on February’s total and marks the first time that the monthly number of page impressions has surpassed the half a… Continue reading WAP Usage Figures Peak At Half A Billion During March

James Brown, the ebullient founder of lad’s mag Loaded, has bowed to market forces and agreed to sell his I Feel Good magazine business to publisher Felix Dennis. It was reported last week that IFG had received a takeover approach (see Dennis Linked With Move For IFG) but at the time, the company refused to… Continue reading New Acquisition Makes Dennis Feel Good

The government is facing further criticism over its plans to liberalise the regulations governing media ownership, with a leading academic claiming that a ‘cultural Jurassic Park’ is in the making. Michael Tracey, director of the University of Colorado’s Centre For Mass Media Research, has informed the UK government of the risks inherent in the drive… Continue reading Communications Bill May Create Cultural Dinosaur Park

The proliferation of available options and the increasing pressure on leisure time are reflected in a new report which shows that almost 70% of US consumers use various forms of media at the same time. The latest Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) carried out by BIGresearch, shows that over 68% of respondents say they regularly or… Continue reading Simultaneous Media Usage Becoming The Norm

Germany has consolidated its position as Europe’s leading internet market (see Germany Is Top European Internet Market) and around a quarter of the country’s users now access the web via cable or DSL broadband. The number of DSL users in Germany had increased to 6.53 million by the end of the first quarter, according to… Continue reading German Surfers Ride The Broadband Wave

Worldwide handset shipments totalled 107.6 million units in the first quarter of 2003, according to new findings from IDC In its Worldwide Handset QView, the IT and telecoms research company calculated that the market was down 12.4% in Q1 compared with the final three months of 2002. However, this was to be expected and shipments… Continue reading Global Handset Market Remains Solid In Q1

International media group Clear Channel Communications yesterday reported a fall in profits for the first quarter despite a small increase in revenues Net earnings in the three months to March 31 2003 totalled $71 million, down from $90.3 million in the same period last year. Revenues crept up from $1.70 billion to $1.78 billion. Clear… Continue reading Clear Channel Issues First Quarter Results