Publicis has acquired US digital and direct marketing agency group Digitas for $1.3 billion (£660 million) in cash. This follows comments made by Publicis chairman and CEO Maurice Levy in October where he outlined an acquisition strategy for the company that lead some to believe a bid could be made for rival fimr Aegis (see… Continue reading Publicis Buys US Digital Marketing Firm

Visits to the Hitwise UK Retail Index (an index of 100 of the top retailers based on visits) continued strongly last week, and were up 8% year-on-year, according to new analysis from Hitwise. However, Hitwise reports that the week ending December 9 saw visits to online retail sites reach their highest peak this year, the… Continue reading Visits To Retail Websites Increase Year-On-Year

During the third quarter of 2006, 88 million picture messages (MMS) were sent throughout the UK, equating to an average of almost one million per day throughout July, August and September, according to the Mobile Data Association. October’s total was the highest yet, with 30 million picture messages sent across the networks. Earlier this year,… Continue reading First UK Picture Message Figures Show 88 Million Sent In Q3

By the end of September 2006, almost three out of every four UK television households, or 73.3%, viewed digital television on their main TV set, according to the new Communications Market: Digital Television Progress Report from Ofcom. Ofcom says that this represents growth of around 800,000 households over the three month period to September, around… Continue reading Digital TV Shows Strong Growth

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) continues to gain users in the US residential telephone service market, according to a new report from In-Stat. In-Stat says that 7.9 % of US households now use a VoIP telephone service, up from 6.5 % at the end of Q2. According to data from the high-tech market research firm’s… Continue reading VoIP Continues To Gain US Residential Users

Alex Zane is to be the new presenter for Xfm’s Friday Breakfast Show in London.Zane, who previously hosted a weekend show on the station before presenting Popworld on Channel 4, will start his new show on Friday 5 January 2007.Lauren Laverne will continue to present the Xfm Breakfast Show from Monday to Thursday.Zane’s show is… Continue reading Alex Zane To Present XFM Friday Breakfast Show

Aegis has announced that its trading for 2006 has continued to perform in line with its expectations, with organic revenue growth accelerating slightly since the first six months of the year. Aegis Media EMEA continues to trade well, with a slight pick-up in adspend in France and Germany. Aegis Media UK is performing well in… Continue reading Aegis Trading In Line With Expectations

BARB has received 24 proposals from 12 different organisations responding to its request for proposals for potential suppliers.“I am encouraged by the response to this first stage in our tendering process.” said Bjarne Thelin, BARB’s chief executive.“In the request for proposals document, BARB emphasised some issues for the future that are expecting to be addressed.… Continue reading Suppliers Line Up For BARB

Net advertising revenue at ITV1 has declined approximately 12.5% over 2006, with adult share of commercial impacts down 10.4% at 33% over the same period. In a trading update released today for the twelve months ended December 31, ITV said that although advertising revenue was down 12.5%, this outcome is better than expected under the… Continue reading Advertising Revenues Down At ITV1

Over three quarters of active US home internet users connected via broadband during November, up 13 percentage points from 65% of active internet users a year ago, according to new research from Nielsen//NetRatings. In November, with an average of 34 hours and 50 minutes per person, US broadband users spent 33% more time online than… Continue reading US Home Broadband Users Increase