David Montgomery’s venture capital-backed bid for SMG’s Herald and Sunday Herald publishing business is understood to be out of the running, possibly because the tabled offer was too low. If the reports are correct, the 3i Group-backed bid from former Mirror Group chief executive Montgomery will be the third major bidder to drop out of… Continue reading Montgomery May Be Out Of Herald Papers Bid

Shares in Reuters, the financial information group, plunged to a twelve year low this morning after the company revealed disappointing results for the third quarter. Total revenue fell 7% from £924 million to £857 million, with Instinet, the group’s electronic share trading service suffering a 25% drop in sales in the three months to September… Continue reading Reuters Stock Sinks Following Profits Warning

The creation of a single ITV company took another step forward this morning, as its proponents, Carlton and Granada, announced further details of an agreed merger plan (see Carlton And Granada Enter Advanced Merger Talks). The two companies claim that a single ITV entity will “help to create a virtuous circle of maximising investment in… Continue reading Carlton/Granada Move Closer To £2.6bn Single ITV Company

The optimism that permeated the UK advertising industry earlier this year appears to have diminished with marketing budgets being revised downwards for the first time since Q4 2001. The Bellwether Report from the IPA indicates that confidence among media and marketing professionals has declined in the last three months. However, the third quarter is traditionally… Continue reading Insight Analysis – Has The Bell Tolled For Ad Recovery?

There is little doubt that the arrival of the web has made a great difference to people’s lives and a new study from GartnerG2 has found evidence that offline activities are losing their appeal as a result. The report, Internet and E-mail: Changing Traditional Media Consumption, found that 20% of web users watch television less… Continue reading Net A Growing Threat To Old Media, Says GartnerG2

Affluent Americans are the fastest growing income group online, according to a new report from Nielsen NetRatings. The number of online individuals with annual household incomes ranging from $100,000 to $150,000 increased by 20% last year. This group now makes up 12% of the US internet population. “Droves of highly paid executives are coming online… Continue reading High Earners Driving US Internet Growth

Total US magazine advertising revenue rose by 9.2% year on year in September to $1.8 billion, according to the latest data from the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). The number of ad pages for September was 24,756, up 2.6% from last year. In the year-to-date, revenue reached $11.7 billion, an increase of 1.5% on the previous… Continue reading US Magazine Revenue Continues To Improve In September

Granada, which last week announced plans to merge with fellow ITV powerhouse, Carlton (see Carlton And Granada Enter Advanced Merger Talks) has indicated its intention to take full control of Ireland’s TV3, according to a report in today’s Independent. The Irish commercial broadcaster is part-owned by Granada, CanWest Global Communications and a group of investors… Continue reading Granada Seeks To Increase Influence In Ireland

The quarterly Bellwether report from the IPA has dampened hopes that the marketing communications industry might see an early recovery by revealing that the majority of advertisers surveyed revised down their marketing budgets during the third quarter of 2002. The report, which gauges the opinion of more than 200 of the UK’s top advertising agencies,… Continue reading IPA Report Dampens Hopes Of Early Recovery

Stronger than expected TV upfronts have encouraged Jack Myers to issue a slightly more positive forecast for advertising growth in 2002. However, the recovery is predicted to be slow and protracted. Jack Myers Report calculates that US adspend will total $155.6 million this year, an increase of 1% on the 2001 total. Spot TV is… Continue reading US Advertising Forecasts From Jack Myers Report