Didier Suberbielle, managing director of magazine publisher Les Publications Conde Nast, has announced that he will be leaving the position to take up the role of chief executive officer at Europe’s leader in dietetic foods, Nutrition & Sante. Commenting on his decision, Suberbielle said: “Conde Nast is an extraordinary company with unique brands. In the… Continue reading Conde Nast MD Announces Departure

US online shopping spend reached $30.1 billion during this year’s holiday season, with new figures showing the sector to have risen by 30% compared to the same time last year. According to the new Holiday eSpending Report from Goldman Sachs, Nielsen//NetRatings and Harris Interactive, 2005 holiday online sales were at the high end of expectations,… Continue reading US E-Commerce Passes $30 Million For 2005 Holiday Season

The UK has overtaken France as the largest broadband country in Europe, with the latest estimates from Point Topic suggesting that the UK will have 9.8 million broadband lines by New Year’s Day 2006 compared to France with 9.7 million. The expected strong performance comes on the backend of a healthy third quarter for DSL… Continue reading UK Overtakes France As Largest European Broadband Country

Older internet users are using the internet more heavily compared to this time a year ago, with a new study from Burst Media! showing that 61% of users aged 55 and over have increased their online presence. The survey revealed that the majority of respondents, 65.5%, visited more websites than they did this time last… Continue reading Older Users Move Online

Channel 4 looks set to cause controversy this Thursday, with the latest series Celebrity Big Brother rumoured to have signed shamed TV presenter Michael Barrymore.Newspaper reports this morning claim the former TV presenter and comedian will join Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith and comedian Johnny Vegas in the show, just weeks after Ofcom dismissed criticism… Continue reading Barrymore Tipped For Celeb Big Brother

The new year got off to a positive start for some of Britain’s largest broadcasters, as the Office of Fair Trading gave the thumbs up to the merger of NTL and Telewest, as well as BSkyB’s acquisition of Easynet just days before 2006 began.Announcing its decision, the OFT stated that “Both cases relate to the… Continue reading OFT Gives Green Light To Media Mergers

Digital was the watchword of 2005’s TV industry, as media regulator Ofcom revealed almost 66% of the nation’s homes now receive TV in digital format (see Ofcom Estimates Show 65.9% Of Britain With Digital TV).The surge in growth was fuelled in part by the launch of several high profile digital channels, as ITV3, ITV4 and… Continue reading End Of Year Round-Up: Television

ITV’s drama Rebus performed well last night, attracting an average adult audience of 8.1 million to dominate prime time viewing.Going head to head with BBC One’s film Catch Me If You Can, with a comparable audience of 5.6 million, ITV’s crime drama secured a share of 33.94% compared with BBC One’s 23.73%.However, The BBC’s earlier… Continue reading Rebus Reaps Rewards For ITV

Cinema admissions in November received a massive boost from the latest film in the Harry Potter series, with the Goblet of Fire fuelling a 4.3% rise in admissions year on year, as well as becoming 2005’s biggest film to date.The movie quickly stormed Britain’s box offices, grossing £31.6 million during November and smashing numerous records… Continue reading Potter Enchants Moviegoers To Smash Cinema Records

Britain’s newspaper market continued to see overall circulations decline throughout 2005, although a new wave of compact titles succeeded in bucking the trend, while new launches in the free-sheet market saw healthy starts.By far the largest change within 2005’s national newspaper market was the Guardian‘s switch to Berliner format, undertaken in September (see Guardian Hits… Continue reading End Of Year Round-Up: Press