2007 saw television’s dirty laundry hung out after numerous TV phone-in scandals, beginning with Channel 4’s behemoth reality franchise, Big Brother, being thrust into the spotlight following tens of thousands of complaints about racist abuse on Celebrity Big Brother (see Big Brother Racism Complaints Reach An Estimated 20,000).Carphone Warehouse pulled its sponsorship, and complaints soared… Continue reading End Of Year Round Up: Television

This year’s incarnation of Celebrity Big Brother – Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack – failed to win the 9pm timeslot for Channel 4 last night, with an average of over 2.6 million adults tuning in to the new format.The programme, which saw the likes of Matt Lucas of Little Britain fame perform a stint as ‘Big… Continue reading Celebrity Big Brother Reincarnation Fails To Hijack Ratings

Orange has signed a content agreement with Setanta, which will allow the mobile giant to stream live coverage of every televised match of the Barclays Premier League through mobile portal Orange World.Setanta Sports 1, Setanta Sports 2 and Setanta Golf will be broadcast on the portal, with the content deal also allowing Orange mobile customers… Continue reading Orange Signs Setanta Content Deal

Bebo has been named the top performing social networking site, beating off competition from Facebook and MySpace, in a poll published today by Computing Which? magazine.Computing Which? looked at ease of setting up and use, features and privacy protection and security of the top 10 social networking sites.Bebo achieved an overall score of 79%, with… Continue reading Bebo Named Top Performing Social Website

Motorola is launching a new handset which will allow users to watch TV on-demand while they are on the move.The Motorola Mobile TV DH01 media player has a high quality 4.3 inch wide screen that supports up to 16 million colours. It also includes a five-minute memory buffer for pause during live TV viewing.Navin Mehta,… Continue reading Motorola To Launch Mobile TV Handset

IPC Advertising has promoted Amanda Wigginton to the new role of director of insight, after she took a leading role in launching a host of new IPC Insight initiatives in 2007.As IPC’s group head of insight, Wigginton recently spearheaded the launch of The Origin Panel, a 7,500-strong women’s panel, and Green Matters, which explores consumers’… Continue reading IPC Promotes Wigginton To Insight Director

UK online ad spending will pass £3 billion in 2008, and show healthy growth despite financial and political uncertainties in Britain, according to a new forecast from eMarketer focusing on the year ahead. E-commerce will also thrive, passing £50 billion as more consumers avoid the stress of crowded transport systems and city centres to shop… Continue reading UK Online Adspend To Pass £3bn In 2008

According to the recently released ChoiceStream 2007 Survey of Viewer Trends in TV & Online Video, 55% of US TV viewers watch some type of video on their computers, mobile devices or digital media players. It added that 66% of these consumers are watching at least one hour per week through these alternatives. Video-watching on… Continue reading Over 55% Of US TV Viewers Watch On Alternative Devices

Nearly $28 billion was spent online in the US during the Christmas period, a year on year rise of 19%, according to the latest figures from ComScore. ComScore said that between November 1 and December 27, shoppers generated record online sales that were up from $23.5 million (£11.75 million) in 2006. “Even as the holiday… Continue reading $28bn Spent Online In US Festive Season

A new forecast from GroupM predicts that the UK will be the first major economy where advertisers spend more online than on TV ads. According to the GroupM forecast, UK internet adspend will overtake TV adspend in 2009. In addition, the media planner and buyer said that Sweden will this year become the first country… Continue reading UK Online Adspend To Overtake TV In 2009