Big online stories of 2008 included the uncertain future of Project Kangaroo, the end of JICIMS, and the three-way wrestling match between Microsoft, Google and Yahoo!.Microsoft launched a $44.6 billion takeover bid to buy Yahoo! at the start of the year, saying that it was confident of delivering up to $1 billion in cost savings… Continue reading 2008 round-up: Online

Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB agent, is set to buy London’s Evening Standard in a deal that will see him become the first Russian oligarch to own a major British newspaper. Lebedev is reportedly poised to take a controlling 76% stake of the struggling title, while the Evening Standard‘s parent group Daily Mail & General… Continue reading Ex-KGB spy poised to buy Evening Standard

The lines between media channels in the 21st century have become increasingly blurred, according to the third annual Media Myths & Realities survey from Ketchum and the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center. The survey compares the media usage habits of 1,000 adult Americans (including 200 influential citizens, or ‘influencers’ – the… Continue reading Lines between media channels becoming increasingly blurred

Google accounted for 71.97% of all US internet searches conducted in the four weeks ending Nov 29, 2008, according to new figures from Hitwise. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com received 17.70%, 5.45% and 3.35%, respectively. The remaining 43 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.53% of US searches. Percentage… Continue reading Google accounts for 72% of US internet searches in November 2008

The Christmas period significantly boosted a number of retail websites, with the top 10 sites seeing an average 37% year on year increase, according to new data by Nielsen Online. Online retailers in the UK witnessed an impressive rise in unique users during Q4 compared with the Christmas shopping period in 2007, with Amazon averaging… Continue reading Christmas boosts retail websites

The IPA’s latest Bellwether survey published today has found that in Q4 2008 annual marketing budgets were revised down to the greatest extent ever recorded in the report’s nine-year history. The cut was the fifth successive quarterly reduction in spend, and 2009 is set to see further cuts, with a number of companies setting their… Continue reading Q4 2008 Bellwether Report: Record Marketing Budget Cuts

Freesat, the joint free satellite service from ITV and the BBC, has achieved more than 200,000 sales since its launch in May last year.According to company figures, the not-for-profit service saw total sales double in the final quarter of 2008.Emma Scott, managing director of Freesat, said: “We saw consumers increasingly drawn to Freesat at the… Continue reading Freesat sales top 200,000

CHI & Partners has launched a new full-service agency called MCHI, a joint venture with WPP’s Group M.Offering creative and media buying, MCHI is an extension of the agency’s previous media offering CHI & Partners Media.MCHI is headed by managing partners Tim Allnutt and Enyi Nwosu and has a staff of 45 and clients including… Continue reading CHI & Partners launches full-service agency MCHI

Big stories in radio in 2008 included the uncertain future of DAB, Global Radio’s takeover of GCap Media and the birth of Absolute Radio.The year began with GCap rejecting a bid from Global Radio, thought to be worth about £310 million (see GCap Turns Down Global Radio Takeover Bid DAB Dealt A Blow As Gcap… Continue reading 2008 round-up: Radio

British consumers pay more attention to print ads rather than online ads, according to Deloitte’s new Media Democracy survey into the media consumption habits of Brits aged between 16 and 74. The study found that 59% of consumers pay the greatest attention to print ads in magazines, while 56% pay more attention to ads in… Continue reading Consumers pay more attention to print ads than online ads