Last night’s Panorama Special, looking at the kidnap and release after four months in captivity of BBC reporter Alan Johnston, won the 9pm ratings war last night, with a peak of 3.1 million adult viewers (a 16.3% share of the audience).The show had an average of three million adult viewers (a 15.4% share) who stuck… Continue reading 3.1 Million Watch Alan Johnston Kidnap Doco

The NRS has released the first set of Time Spent Reading data, revealing that a weekday (Monday-Friday) issue of a daily newspaper is read for an average of 40 minutes.The average Saturday newspaper is read for an average of 60 minutes, with 42% of readers spending an hour or more.The data also shows that the… Continue reading NRS Releases First Set Of Time Spent Reading Data

The Times‘ online offering has overtaken the Daily Mail and the Sun‘s websites to become the second busiest newspaper site in the UK in September, according to latest figures from the ABCe.Following an almost 22.5% increase in traffic, Times Online recorded its highest ever unique user* figure of over 12.5 million for the month, an… Continue reading More Users For Times Online Than The Daily Mail And The Sun’s Websites

BT Vision, BT’s next-generation TV service, is stepping up its customer communications activity with the launch of On magazine.On is a high-quality, 52-page, bi-monthly magazine that will arrive through the letter boxes of BT Vision households in November.The mag highlights the best film, TV, sport, music and kids entertainment on BT Vision, and also shows… Continue reading BT Vision Launches New Customer Magazine

Microsoft has agreed to invest $240 million (£117 million) in social networking website Facebook, placing a $15 billion value on it. The investment, which was accompanied by the signing of a key advertising deal, gives Microsoft a 1.6% stake in the online social utility. The companies already had a US-only strategic alliance that named Microsoft… Continue reading Microsoft Invests In Facebook

Aegis Group has announced the acquisition of Genesis Media in Canada. Genesis has gross assets of US $16.2m. Founded in 1992, Genesis Media is an independent media agency with a particular presence in the Western Canada region. It has a diversified service offering, including CRM, digital, direct and data analytics. Aegis Media said that the… Continue reading Aegis Acquires Genesis Media

The US audience for mobile video is growing at an impressive rate, according to the latest figures from M:Metrics. At eight million in August, the total audience for those who viewed mobile video, either from the carrier deck or video content sent by a friend or family member, grew by 34% from January of this… Continue reading US Mobile Video Audience Growing

Internet users in Europe will spend a projected €51 billion ($71 billion US dollars) online during the Christmas season this year, according to Forrester Research. For the full year 2007, Forrester projects European online retail to grow 58% year-over-year. Forrester’s holiday forecast covers 17 Western European countries and 22 retail categories, and draws upon its… Continue reading European Internet Users To Spend €51b Online At Christmas

Omnicom’s net profit for the third quarter of 2007 increased 14.2% to $202.2 million, from $177.1 million in the third quarter of 2006. Worldwide revenue increased 11.8% to $3,101.4 million from $2,774.3 million in the third quarter of 2006. Domestic revenue for the third quarter of 2007 increased 7.4% to $1,654.9 million. International revenue increased… Continue reading Omnicom Net Profit Up 14.2%

TIOTI, the social media aggregator and one-stop source for TV content, has successfully concluded first-round funding with Europe’s largest early-stage technology venture capital fund, Pond Venture Partners.After TIOTI’s public launch on October 1 (see Next Generation Of Online TV To Launch), www.tioti.com is now indexing over 75,000 television shows and more than 500,000 individual episodes… Continue reading More Funding For TIOTI