Gannett, the international media group has reported a small increase in earnings for the first quarter of 2003 but admitted that the war in Iraq had precipitated a slowdown in adspend. The company, which publishes 100 daily newspapers in the US, including USA Today, and owns Newsquest Media Sales in the UK, said yesterday that… Continue reading Gannett Revenues Rise But War Casts A Shadow

Reuters today reported a 10% fall in underlying first quarter earnings as it seeks to recover from a disastrous 2002. The financial information group said that core revenues slipped to £670 million in the first three months of 2003. Pre-tax losses approached £500 million last year (see Reuters Chief Sees No Signs Of Recovery As… Continue reading Bleak Outlook Persists For Reuters

The Wireless Group has reported a 74.8% reduction in operating losses, which were £2.3 million in 2002, down from £9.1 million a year earlier. In its year-end financial results released today, the radio group’s chairman, Kelvin MacKenzie, says that he is expecting to meet the break-even target “despite some of the worst markets the industry… Continue reading Wireless Group Cuts Losses Despite Poor Markets

The internet is starting to play a more prominent role in the marketing mix and this is backed up by figures released today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) which show that UK online advertising spend increased by 18.7% to almost £200 million in 2002. After a difficult 2001, during which the market grew by… Continue reading UK Online Advertising Market Grows Up In 2002

Merrill Lynch is reducing its 2003 US radio advertising growth forecast from 4.3% to 3.3%, giving a total spend of $19.5 billion. Analysts say that the downward revision is an attempt to ‘wipe the slate clean’ and avoid any further downgrades. The broker has also cut its Q2 2003 predictions fairly heavily, from 5.0% to… Continue reading Merrill Lynch Downgrades US Radio Growth Forecasts

Viewers who claim not to want digital television often change their minds after a trial of the service, according to new research commissioned by a consortium of interested companies. The Go Digital study found that before the trial approximately one fifth of participants said they were not interested in receiving DTV; after the trial, 68%… Continue reading Reluctant Viewers Turn To Digital TV After Free Trial

Channel 4’s director of programming, Tim Gardam, has called on the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), to give the station a slice of the £2.5 billion the BBC makes from licence fee revenues. According to the Guardian, Gardam told the Royal Institute for British Architects that he was not arguing for the instant… Continue reading Channel 4 Calls For Slice Of BBC Licence Fee

News Corporation is to sell its 45% share in the New Zealand publisher, Independent Newspapers Limited (INL), in a deal worth £420 million. INL has said that its publishing assets which include the Dominion Post in Wellington and The Press in Christchurch will pass to the Australian newspaper company, John Fairfax Holdings. The deal will… Continue reading News Corp Offloads New Zealand Publications

UK marketing budgets were on average revised downwards in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest edition of the IPA‘s Bellwether Report, released this morning. The survey of UK marketers found that 18.2% planned to increase their budgets, 61.3% expected to leave them the same and 20.4% are revising them downwards. This… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: Bellwether Sees Weakest Advertising Outlook Yet

US radio advertising revenue rose by 7% year on year in February 2003, according to figures from the country’s Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB). Local spend led the way with an 8% rise, whilst national dollars increased by 5%. The RAB says that this is indicative of a relatively healthy radio environment in spite of the… Continue reading US Radio Revenues Rise 7% In February