Advertising revenues at the Telegraph Group continued their downward spiral during the second quarter of 2002 as the ailing recruitment market showed no signs of recovery. The Hollinger International Group, which publishes the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, announced that advertising income between April and June had fallen 3.8% to £52.7 million, compared with £54.7… Continue reading Telegraph Revenues On The Slide

UK cable group, Telewest Communications, is understood to be meeting with its bank this week to discuss the expected restructure of its £5.3 billion debt burden (see Telewest Moving Closer To Debt Swap Agreement). The Times today reports that £2.25 billion of debt could waived as early as next week, in the first step toward… Continue reading Telewest Debt Waiver Is On The Cards

Media communications and market research network, Aegis Group, has acquired Sample Surveys, one of the largest independently owned custom market research agencies in the UK. Aegis will pay an initial £5.4 million cash, with a deferred consideration of up to £1.8 million, subject to the performance of Sample Surveys over the next three years. The… Continue reading Aegis Acquires UK Market Research Firm

AOL Time Warner yesterday confirmed the appointment of Jonathan Miller as the chief executive of its internet arm, America Online. Miller, a former head of USA Interactive, succeeds Robert Pittman, who stepped down last month after failing to revive the fortunes of the struggling web business (see COO Quits AOL Time Warner). The new CEO… Continue reading AOL Appoints New Online Chief

Lastminute.com, the online retailer, today announced narrowing losses and pledged to achieve profitability in the next quarter. The UK internet company revealed pre-tax losses of £3.9 million for the three months to June, compared with £9.2 million for the same period in 2001. This was also an improvement on the £5.2 million deficit recorded in… Continue reading Lastminute Strives To Get In The Black

In the wake of high profile financial scandals and the alarming fall in share prices, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down its 2002 growth estimates for the United States. On Monday, the IMF was predicting US economic growth of 2.5% this year and 3.25% in 2003. A leaked copy of the World Economic… Continue reading IMF Revises Down Economic Growth Estimates

SMS marketing is now an accepted form of advertising and is viewed much more favourably than direct mail or telesales, according to research by mobile media sales and technology provider, Enpocket. The results found that third party SMS marketing from a trusted service provider is regarded as favourably as television and radio advertising. 63% of… Continue reading SMS Marketing As Acceptable As TV Or Radio Advertising, Says Report

ITV’s share of advertising revenue is set to fall to 46.7% by 2007, down from 56.5% in 2001 and from 74.8% in 1993. According to forecasts from media buying agency Carat, the Network’s share is to see a fairly constant decline over the next five years as competition for adspend from pay-TV channels increases. In… Continue reading Long-Term ITV Revenue Forecasts From Carat

US adspend is forecast to show a slight comeback in the second half of the year, with moderate gains continuing through to 2006, according to a new industry report from Veronis Suhler Stevenson as reported by Mediapost. Growth of 2.9% is predicted for 2002, following the 6.2% decline of last year. Most of this is… Continue reading US Ad Forecasts From Veronis Suhler

Broadband internet is starting to capture the imagination of the British public and almost 2 million homes will have high-speed web access by this time next year, according to the Summer 2002 Internet Report from Continental Research. The study shows that of the 10 million UK households now connected to the internet, 12% already have… Continue reading UK Web Users Catching The Broadband Bug, Says Research