Multi-channel viewing has grown dramatically over the past five years acheiving 20% of veiwing share in 2001, according to data from BARB, twice the share it had in 1996. Over the same period of time, ITV’s share has decreased from 35% to 27% and BBC’s from 44% to 38%. UK Share Of Viewing Trends, 1996… Continue reading UK Viewing Trends Show Gains For Pay TV

” ‘How did you go bankrupt?’ Bill asked. ‘Two ways,’ Mike said. ‘Gradually and then suddenly.’ “ Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, 1926. And so it was in 2001 that we inched towards recession month by month until the events of 11 September. Media giants who had previously boasted that their size and diversity… Continue reading 2001: The Year In Brief

Recruitment advertising revenue represented 26.1% of the £1.8bn spent on classified ads in the regional press during 2000 (Advertising Association Yearbook). With over 50% of UK residents now in the online habit (Office of National Statistics), increasing numbers of online recruitment sites are poised to claim a cut of this revenue. Several of the UK’s… Continue reading Recruitment Websites Will Cut Into Classified Revenues

More than two thirds of the population have never visited any of the Government’s 3,000 websites, according to new research from IT consultancy firm, Hedra. The study shows that fewer than 3% of UK adults regularly use Government websites to access public services, despite the fact that nearly two thirds of the population now have… Continue reading UK Government Sites Fail To Captivate

UK media group Pearson has this morning agreed the sale of its 22% stake in European broadcaster RTL to German group Bertelsmann for E1.5 billion. The deal, worth E44-a-share, sees Pearson depart from the commercial television market whilst Bertelsmann strengthens its position. Bertelsmann now owns 89% of RTL and has made an offer to buy… Continue reading Pearson Agrees Sale Of RTL Stake

Troubled German media group Kirch Gruupe (see International News) has today posted strong results for the nine months to September 2001 for its KirchMedia division. KirchMedia posted increased revenues of DM 4,597, a 7% increase on last year, and EBITDA down only 4% to DM 469 million despite significant losses in the commercial TV division,… Continue reading KirchMedia Posts Strong Results Despite TV Losses

Comcast has won the battle to merge with AT&T, to create the US’ largest broadband cable provider. The deal, announced last night, ends months of negotiations and sees Comcast emerge victorious over rival bidder AOL Time Warner. The deal is valued at around $7.2 billion, according to reports, and the Comcast AT&T group will reach… Continue reading Comcast And AT&T Finally Seal Merger

French media group Vivendi Universal (VU) has reached an agreement to buy the Italian pay-TV platform, Stream, from News Corp, according to a report in the Financial Times. The paper reports that VU will pay $390 million for the business. In principle, Stream will be merged with Vivendi’s Telepiu business, although the Italian regulation authorities… Continue reading Vivendi To Buy News Corp’s Stream In Italy, Says FT

2001 was ‘one of the most capricious years in decades’ for the media and advertising industries, according to a new report from the Billetts, with UK TV prices ending up at their cheapest since 1994. This appraisal of the year comes from Billetts’ Media Forecasts 2002 report, which predicts that there will be a slow… Continue reading Billetts Sees Return To Ad Growth Around September 2002

By 2005, US online advertising will be worth $18.8 billion, according to a GartnerG2 report released this month. This 2005 figure represents a 138% growth on the $7.9 billion of 2001. Gartner says that while advertising growth remains flat or receding in television, radio and print, online advertising revenue is set to grow considerably, but… Continue reading US Online Advertising To More Than Double By 2005