Archant has announced a 27% fall in operating profits for 2008 to £2.2 million, down from £30.5 million in 2007. Archant chairman Richard Jewson attributed the drop to declines in recruitment and property advertising revenues in the newspaper business and in property and display advertising in the Life magazines. Turnover from ongoing operations reduced 9.2%… Continue reading Archant’s operating profits fall 27%

Talks between Sky and Tiscali over the satellite broadcaster’s purchase of Tiscali’s UK assets have broken down due to deteriorating market conditions. Tiscali said today that talks with BSkyB are “almost impossible” to continue due to the financial climate. On Friday, Tiscali suspended its shares and asked banks to halt its interest repayments while it… Continue reading Sky and Tiscali end talks

Google and Universal Music are understood to be in talks to launch a premium online music offering on YouTube.Reports claim that the deal would see YouTube power a site professional video content from Universal Music artists such as U2.It is predicted that advertisers will be charged a higher rate for ads on the new site… Continue reading Google and Universal Music in talks to launch YouTube music channel

Member communities – which includes social networks and blogs – has become the fourth most popular category online, visited by over two-thirds (67%) of the global online population according to new research from Nielsen. John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online, said: “Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience. “While two-thirds… Continue reading Social networks and blogs increase in popularity

The mobile content and services market is predicted to generate over $340 billion in end-user service revenues in 2013, up from around $183 billion in 2008. According to a new forecast from Informa Telecoms & Media, the two most significant service categories for revenues in 2008 were mobile messaging and mobile internet, which together contributed… Continue reading Mobile content and services market to generate over $340bn in revenues in 2013

January 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service shows that US internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 4% versus December 2008. YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for 91% of the incremental gain in the number of videos viewed versus December, as it surpassed 100 million… Continue reading US internet viewers watched 14.8bn online videos in January

WPP has reported a 3.8% rise in pre-tax profit and a 2.7% rise in like-for-like revenues for 2008. The global marketing services group reported profits of £747 million for the year and an operating margin of 15%, although this was below its target of 15.3%, which WPP said was due to a weak fourth quarter.… Continue reading WPP reports 3.8% rise in pre-tax profits for 2008

ABC figures for February reveal that the London Evening Standard‘s circulation was down 5.3% period on period and 3.7% year on year, to around 277,500 copies.Afternoon freesheets the London Lite and thelondonpaper remained static period on period, with distribution figures of around 401,000 and just under 501,000 respectively.Morning business freesheet City AM once again saw… Continue reading Evening Standard sees circulation dip

Malcolm Wall, chief executive of Virgin Media’s content division, is to leave the company next month.The news follows reports that Virgin Media is to sell its content business (see Virgin Media could sell content division in next few weeks).Virgin Media’s content division, thought to be worth about £500 million, includes assets such as the company’s… Continue reading Virgin Media content chief to step down

In a wide-ranging address on the future media landscape, Richard Eyre (a director of Guardian Media Group) painted a gloomy picture for the future of print at yesterday’s Annual ISBA conference in London.“Inside 18 months, the first titles will become online only.” This will include some nationals, Eyre added. “Newspapers are kidding themselves if they… Continue reading Eyre: Expect first nationals to close within 18 months