Commercial radio revenue figures for the second quarter of 2007 have grown to over £85 million, according to RadioCentre, the industry body for UK commercial radio. In a statement released today, RadioCentre said local revenue for the quarter grew year on year by 1.2% to over 40 million and sponsorship & promotions revenue dipped slightly… Continue reading Growth For Commercial Radio Revenues

Steve Burch, Virgin Media chief executive, is to leave the company with immediate effect, citing family and personal reasons. Neil Berkett, Virgin Media’s chief operating officer is to take on the chief executive responsibilities for the time being, with the company saying that it intends to start a search for a replacement shortly. Burch, who… Continue reading Steve Burch Steps Down As Virgin Media CEO

Richard Huntingford, ex-Chrysalis radio chief executive, has been appointed as non-executive chairman of Virgin Radio. Huntingford joined Chrysalis in 1987 and announced his departure in June following the group’s sale of its radio division. The SMG owned Virgin Radio also announced that Rosemary Thorne is joining as senior independent director, whilst David Palmer has already… Continue reading Richard Huntingford Named Virgin Radio Chairman

The Office of Fair Trading has said it would agree to consider a review of the imposed Contract Rights Renewal (CRR) on ITV.According to reports, the broadcaster, which has challenged the restrictions following the Carlton/Granada merger, has finally persuaded the OFT to think about looking at the case.The OFT said it would make a decision… Continue reading OFT Agrees To Consider Review Of CRR

UK online retail reached an all-time high in July, exceeding £4 billion for the first time, according to retail body the IMRG. UK sales were up 80% year on year, to £4.2 billion, £1.86 billion higher than in July 2006. Electricals was the strongest growing sector, up by 102% year-on-year, with clothing, footwear and accessories… Continue reading UK Online Retail Reaches All-Time High

Spending on search engine marketing in the UK is forecast to grow 58% this year to £2.2 billion, with almost £2 billion of that coming from paid search, according to a new report from E-consultancy. The study says that although the growth rate has fallen from 65% in 2006, it looks as if the market… Continue reading UK Search Engine Marketing To Grow

WPP has reported a 5.3% increase in like-for-like revenues for the six months to the end of June, helped by acquisitions in China and India and faster growth in the US. WPP posted a pre-tax profit of £338 million, a 6.9% on the same period last year. Its reported revenue rose 2% to £2.9 billion.… Continue reading WPP Revenues Increase 5.3%

The King was a big draw for ITV1 last night, with Young Elvis In Colour grabbing a peak of 3.6 million adults (an 18.9% share of the audience) in its 9pm timeslot.The insightful documentary, shown 30 years after the death of one of pop culture’s biggest icons, featured rare colour archive and home movies of… Continue reading Elvis Gets A Big Audience For ITV1

High profile ‘threequels’ have seen UK cinema admissions up almost 28.5% year on year in June to 11.2 million, according to the latest figures from the Cinema Advertising Association.Films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Shrek the Third, Ocean’s Thirteen and Spider-Man 3 have spurred the upturn.The third instalment in the Pirates… Continue reading ‘Threequels’ Boost Cinema Admissions To 11.2 Million For June

Bebo.com became the most visited social networking site from within the UK in July, attracting 10.6 million unique visitors, an increase of 63% over the start of the year, according to the latest figures from comScore.It was closely followed by social networking behemoth MySpace.com, which enjoyed a 25% increase in traffic over the same time… Continue reading Bebo Becomes Most Visited Social Networking Site In July