A new government inquiry into the “commercialisation of childhood” could lead to increased limits on advertising and marketing to children.Ministers are said to be concerned by research suggesting children recognise 400 brands by the age of ten and sympathise with parents who decry “pester power”.Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said: “I want to know if… Continue reading Government Inquiry Could Lead To Advertising Limits For Children

GCap Media will no longer sell two of its three Xfm radio stations outside of London, following the company’s acquisition by Global Radio at the start of April.Fru Hazlitt, the GCap chief executive, announced in February that the Xfm stations in Scotland, Manchester and south Wales would be sold or their licences would be handed… Continue reading GCap To Hold On To Xfm Stations

Nielsen Online has announced continued investment to support its growth in the UK and EMEA with the addition of four senior staff.Stephen Brooks becomes the new managing director for the UK, joining from EMAP Communications, where he was digital director for magazines. Prior to that Stephen spent seven years as the publisher in charge of… Continue reading Nielsen Online Recruits Wealth of Talent

More than 42 million programmes have been accessed on the BBC’s online catch up TV service, the iPlayer, in the first three months of 2008.The total number of requests for downloads and streams of BBC programmes in March were 17.2 million, rising from 14 million in February and 11.2 million in January. There were 1.1… Continue reading Over 42 Million Shows Accessed On iPlayer

Sir Alan’s clutch of incompetents once again lured viewers to The Apprentice last night, with over 6.4 million adults tuning in to BBC One.The boys’ team made a pig’s breakfast out of their attempts at turning a north London pub into an Italian restaurant for the night, but thankfully they dismissed someone’s idea of fake… Continue reading The Apprentice Attracts Over 6.4 Million To BBC One

The advertising industry’s business model is outdated and must change as it faces increasing competition from the likes of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, according to Maurice Levy, chief executive of Publicis Groupe.Speaking at an advertising industry conference sponsored by the International Advertising Association, Levy said: “The very model of our industry is being called into… Continue reading Ad Industry Must Change, Says Maurice Levy

Ofcom today warned that public service programming could become unsustainable in the near future, as it unveiled new proposals that could see the major commercial broadcasters allowed to drop their obligations to such content.In the regulator’s second review of public service broadcasting (see Ofcom Begins Second Review Of PSB In UK), it warned that the… Continue reading Ofcom Warns Public Service Programming Could Be Unsustainable

Flickr, the photo-sharing website, has introduced video sharing, confirming months of speculation that this would be the next step for the service.Announcing the new function on the Flickr blog, community manager Heather Champ said that videos would be limited to 90 seconds and 150Mb in size.“While this might seem like an arbitrary limit, we thought… Continue reading Flickr Adds Video Sharing To Site

Jenny Abramsky, the BBC’s director of audio and music, is leaving the corporation after almost 40 years to chair the board of the National Heritage Memorial Fund.Gordon Brown today announced that Abramsky would join the fund in September, bringing to an end the BBC career of one of its longest-serving senior executives.Abramsky joined the BBC… Continue reading Abramsky Leaves BBC After Almost 40 Years

Last night’s controversial Champion’s League match between Arsenal and Liverpool was a big winner for ITV1, with the game’s coverage attracting an average of almost seven million adults to the channel.The quarter final second-leg, which saw Liverpool beat their southern rivals following a ‘dodgy penalty’, gave the channel a 31% viewing share between 7.30pm and… Continue reading Champion’s League Scores For ITV1