Almost one fifth of internet users in western Europe are willing to pay for some online content, up from 16% a year ago, according to a Jupiter Research survey The study revealed that reluctance to pay for downloadable content has fallen from 47% of users to 41%. Accordingly, western Europeans are predicted to spend €2.5… Continue reading Western Europeans More Willing To Pay For Online Content

The number of US households taking cable television services looks likely to decrease for the first time ever in the full year 2002, according to the Federal Communications Commission‘s (FCC) annual report on competition in video markets. This first-time decline in subscribers comes amidst a declining market share for the cable sector. As of June… Continue reading US Cable TV Subs To Fall For First Time In 2002

BSkyB is reportedly considering paying up to £1 billion to secure the rights to broadcast Premier League football matches, despite facing less competition from rivals. The £1 billion that BSkyB is believed to be willing to pay for the rights is only slightly less than the £1.1 billion that it paid in 2000 to broadcast… Continue reading BSkyB Could Pay Up To £1bn For Premiership Rights

The prospects for US advertising growth in 2003 are being treated with ‘cautious optimism’ by analysts at Merrill Lynch, mirroring the broker’s outlook at the beginning of 2002. It is forecasting a 4.0% growth for the US and 3.0% growth globally this year, falling pretty much in the middle of forecasts from Zenith Media (see… Continue reading Merrill Lynch Sees ‘Cautious Optimism’ For 2003 US Ad Outlook

Despite a number of more optimistic forecasts released recently, the ‘impulse’ for a real recovery in advertising spend will not come until 2004, WPP chairman Sir Martin Sorrell told the German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag this weekend. In an interview with the paper, Sorrell said that current factors give little cause for hope for a… Continue reading No Impulse For Ad Recovery Until 2004, Says Sorrell

There is still too much complacency regarding the UK’s economy, with recent forecasts increasingly looking like wishful thinking, according to Deloitte & Touche‘s latest Economic Review. Official and market forecasts that predict a steady acceleration in growth of the next few years rely on a ‘gradual and orderly’ unwinding of the imbalances built up in… Continue reading UK Economic Prospects Tougher Than Forecasts Suggest, Says Deloitte Report

US online retail spend jumped 23% year on year in the month running up to Christmas, ringing up $7.9 billion in sales, according to the latest data from BizRate. There were six fewer shopping days in the 2002 holiday season as compared to the year before and when the figures are adjusted to include the… Continue reading US Online Sales Jump 23% In Run Up To Christmas

The number of text messages sent in one day reached an all time high on New Year’s Day with people across the country sending 111 million seasonal SMS messages to friends and relatives. According to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association, the number of text messages sent between midnight on 31 December and… Continue reading New Year Heralds Text Message Spree

The runaway success of Freeview showed no signs of slowing in the run up to Christmas with sales of set top decoder boxes running at more than 200,000 during December. Estimates show that the increased demand for Freeview over the festive period has pushed the number of UK digital terrestrial viewers towards the 2.5 million… Continue reading Freeview Sales Soar In Run Up To Christmas

Vivendi Universal has moved to ease its debt burden by selling the US educational publisher Houghton Mifflin to an investment consortium for $1.66 billion. The sale, which was initially announced in November, is a welcome fillip for Vivendi which is coming off a disastrous 2002 during which its stock and reputation took a battering. The… Continue reading Vivendi Completes Sale Of US Publisher