French media and advertising group Havas is expecting 2002 to be another year of negative growth in the worldwide ad market, with CEO Alain de Pouzilhac forecasting a 0-2% decline. The US is forecast to fall by 1.5% and Europe by 2.0%, de Pouzilhac told an analysts’ meeting. Nevertheless, Havas expects that its top 25… Continue reading Havas Sees Worldwide Ad Decline Of 2% In 2002

Liberty Media has withdrawn its application to the German Cartel Office to acquire a stake in Kirch Group’s pay-TV operation from News Corporation (see Murdoch In Talks To Sell Stake In Kirch To Liberty Media) in a bid to become the country’s largest cable operator. The withdrawal makes approval of Liberty’s £3.5bn acquisition from Deutsche… Continue reading Liberty Media Withdraws From Kirch Bid

WPP has made an offer for German internet agency Concept! AG. WPP has an existing 20% stake in the company and intends to acquire the remaining shares at a price of Euro 6.80 per share. The offer is subject to approval by the German Federal Cartel Office. In a statement yesterday, WPP said that the… Continue reading WPP Extends German Internet Marketing Interests

Guardian Newspapers (GNL), publisher of the Guardian, Observer and the Guardian Unlimited websites, is cutting 35 jobs across the group as a result of the deterioration in the advertising market, set to cost GNL £30 million this year. The company plans to cut commercial and editorial posts across the group, including five journalists from the… Continue reading Jobs Go At Guardian As Ad Downturn Costs

The current economic downturn in the US is leading consumers to cut back on their spending, as they don’t see the economy returning to normal until the second half of this year, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch. Not surprisingly, consumer behaviour has changed somewhat in the States since the attacks there. “It certainly… Continue reading US Consumers Cautious On Spending, But Figures Show Positive Signs

Jupiter Media Metrix has found that advertisers are very sceptical about forming long-term relationships with agencies for interactive marketing. According to a new report, released today, 37% of advertisers prefer to compensate agencies on a per-project basis, whilst 23% favour paying a straight retainer. “Advertisers are ambivalent about the future of their agency relationships, preferring… Continue reading Two Thirds Of Advertisers Unsure About Agency Relationship For Interactive Marketing

Almost three quarters of all domestic internet users in France visited an e-commerce site in November last year, according to figures from NetValue released this month. NetValue says that 7 million French Net users – 73.4% of the domestic market – accessed online retail sites in the run up to Christmas. In addition, 42.4% performed… Continue reading French Consumer E-Commerce Boomed In November, Says NetValue

US radio revenue figures for November stabilised in the local ad markets, as ad sales dropped 7% compared to the same month a year ago, according to the latest data from the US Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB). The Bureau says that national advertising – harder hit than local in the downturn – appears to have… Continue reading US Radio Set For Slow But Steady Recovery, Says RAB

US cable subscribers numbered 69 million as of June 2001, up about 1.9% from the 67.7 million customers reported in June 2000, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said in its annual report on US multichannel competition, released this week. Combined cable and non-cable multichannel video programme distributor (MVPDs) subs increased to 88.3 million households as… Continue reading Digital Satellite Subscriber Growth Outstrips Cable In The US

Italian advertising spend dropped by 13.2% in November 2001, according to the latest figures from ACNielsen, compiled by analysts at ABN Amro, who had themselves predicted a decline of 14.5%. Newspapers were the hardest hit medium, falling by 19.7%, although this is much better than the 30.2% decline the broker had forecast. Magazines, on the… Continue reading Italian Ad Market Drops 13% In November