Reports in the trade press have linked UTV with a potential bid for Virgin Radio, owned by Scottish Media Group (SMG). Earlier this week SMG announced that it had received renewed interest in Virgin Radio, thought to include GMG Radio, Global Radio and Vitruvian, the private equity firm which last year bid for Emap’s radio… Continue reading UTV Could Bid For Virgin Radio

Mobile instant messaging (IM) adoption in Europe will grow from 8% (26.7 million subscribers) in 2007 to 24% (80 million subscribers) by 2013, according to a new study by Forrester Research. Forrester’s mobile IM forecast is based on a survey of 22,000 consumers across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Three… Continue reading Mobile IM Adoption To Reach 80m Subscribers By 2013

Magazines are experiencing unprecedented global growth, with record levels of copy sales and advertising revenues in developing countries and a stable outlook in more established markets, according to the new International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP) World Magazine Trends 2007/2008 report.The report examines the magazine and advertising markets from 54 countries, with detailed information… Continue reading Magazines Experiencing Global Growth

Last night’s less than conventional ‘Grand Design’, which saw a young surveyor construct a decagon bachelor pad in Oxford, drew more than 3.9 million adults to Channel 4 between 9pm and 10pm.The new series of the ever-popular lifestyle format, Grand Designs, continued to perform well for C4, giving the station a 17% viewing share in… Continue reading Grand Designs Lures Almost 4m Viewers To C4

The Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Daily Post will have both their paid and free circulation figures combined, following a successful campaign.From August, the two regional titles’ ABCs will be combined after the body’s council approved the change to the circulation certificates, creating a single set of industry-agreed reporting standards.Average monthly circulation will be reported… Continue reading Regional Titles Win Bid To Have Paid-For And Free ABCs Combined

Total commercial TV impacts reached an all time high last year with an increase of almost 4% on 2006, a growth of more than 10% since 2003, according to TV marketing body Thinkbox, which released the full year BARB figures today.The organisation said 2.25 billion TV ads are now watched every day in the UK,… Continue reading TV Impacts Reach All Time High In 2007

Mars brand Pedigree is to fund the new ITV1 series Dog Rescue, making it the first fully advertiser funded programme to be developed and produced by ITV.The observational documentary is set in two of the UK’s busiest animal re-homing centres, The Dog Trust in Harefield and Manchester Dog’s Home and follows the dedicated team of… Continue reading ITV1 To Launch First Fully Ad Funded Programme

Sir Martin Sorrell has said that 2008 should be a pretty good year for the advertising industry, with 2009 looking less certain.Sorrell, WPP chief executive, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, said: “We see 08 as still being a pretty good year, in fact better than 07, Beijing Olympics, fantastic Olympic Games in China,… Continue reading Sorrell Predicts Strong 2008 For Ad Industry

GCap Media’s Xfm has today signed a second major promotional deal with Paramount Pictures, this time to support the premiere release of sci-fi action thriller Cloverfield.Launching on January 28, the multi-media campaign will run across Xfm London, Xfm Scotland and Xfm South Wales during Breakfast and Xfm Manchester during drivetime and will include a mix… Continue reading Xfm Signs Second Major Promotional Deal With Paramount Pictures

ITV1’s new series of Ladette To Lady was beaten in the ratings last night by BBC One’s Mistresses and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on Five.The ITV1 reality show could only manage a peak audience of 3.2 million adults (a 14.3% share of the audience) in its 9pm timeslot.Over on BBC One at the same time… Continue reading Ladette To Lady Loses Out To Mistresses