Independent News & Media has agreed a financial standstill deal with its principal banks and bondholders, giving it until late June to negotiate the refinancing of its €200 million (£178 million) bond. The standstill period starts today and runs until 26 June. INM said that to aid the negotiations a committee of bondholders has appointed… Continue reading INM agrees financial standstill agreement

Aegis has reported an 11.6% fall in organic revenue growth for the first quarter of 2009. However, the UK media-buying and research group has predicted a “resilient” performance for 2009 overall. The company said that reported group revenues, which include effects such as a significant exchange-rate benefit, grew by 6.5%, while its Aegis Media division… Continue reading Aegis reports 11.6% Q1 fall in organic revenue

UTV Media, owner of the Northern Ireland ITV franchise and talkSPORT, has reported a 19% decline in ad revenues at its TV division and a 15% drop at its radio operation for the first four months of the year. The broadcasting group, which owns more than 20 radio stations across the UK and Ireland, said… Continue reading UTV reports 19% drop in ad revenue

While online UK newspapers draw substantial domestic audiences, most attract even larger international audiences, according to new research from comScore. comScore found that 15.9 million people in the UK visited a newspaper website in March, representing a 43% reach of the country’s online population. According to comScore, The Sun Online was the most popular online… Continue reading UK online newspapers drawing large international audiences

Total social network ad spending in the US will fall 3% to $1.1 billion in 2009, from $1.2 billion in 2008, according to a new forecast from eMarketer. This is a significant turnaround from previous years, when spending grew an estimated 33% in 2008 and 129% in 2007, said eMarketer. The primary reason for the… Continue reading US social networking adspend to fall 3% in 2009

More than half (52%) of mobile phone users are now using the mobile internet with email and social networking the most popular activities, according to new research from UK user experience consultancy Webcredible. The research polled 1,132 visitors to the Webcredible website between February and April 2009 on what they used their mobile phone for… Continue reading Email and social networking most popular mobile internet activities

ITV expects ad revenues to fall 16% in the first half of 2009 and plans to make additional cutbacks of £40 million in 2010. John Cresswell, ITV chief operating officer, said that around half the £40 million savings would come from the programming budget, with the other half coming from “across the rest of the… Continue reading ITV ad revenues expected to fall 16% in H1

BT has reported a £1.3 billion loss for the last three months, giving it an annual loss of £134 million. As a result it is set to cut 5,000 jobs over the coming year, roughly 10% of its workforce. It has already axed 15,000 jobs over the past year. The telecoms firm also revealed that… Continue reading BT reports £1.3bn loss for last three months

Johnston Press has reported a fall 34.4% fall in ad revenue for the first 19 weeks of the year. The regional publishing group said following this its operating profit for 2009 is likely to be towards the lower end of market expectations. It has also scrapped plans to sell its Irish titles despite “considerable interest”,… Continue reading Johnston Press reports 34.4% drop in ad revenue

Advertising revenue at Trinity Mirror’s regional division was down 36% year on year in for the 17 weeks to the 26 April. In an interim management statement released today, the company revealed that group advertising revenue declined by 30% year on year. Its regional division was down 37% in January and February and 35% in… Continue reading Trinity Mirror’s regional ad revenues down 36%