Global legal music downloads have tripled in 2005 as file sharers take heed of changes in downloading laws, with figures from industry body, IFPI, showing that the number of tracks obtained legally from the internet reached 180 million in the first half of this year. According to the IFPI, legal downloads in the first six… Continue reading Worldwide Legal Music Downloads Triple In First Half Of 2005

The value of the product placement market is predicted to reach $6.94 billion by 2009, increasing at a compound annual rate of 14.9% between 2004 and 2009, according to a new report published by US research company, PQ Media. Television is predicted to increase its share of total product placement spending by almost 7% over… Continue reading Product Placement To Hit $7 Billion By 2009

Viacom Outdoor’s Digital Escalator Panels (DEPs), installed at the London Underground’s Tottenham Court Road station earlier this year, have wowed commuters, with many enthralled by them and choosing to pay extra attention as they continue their journey.Research by Viacom Outdoor into the effect and response to the new medium showed that 80% of Londoners thought… Continue reading Electronic Billboards See Positive Response

Ntl’s fledgling video on-demand service looks set for a huge boost this month, as an extra 100,000 customers are given access to the company’s TV-replay and movie content at the touch of a button.The extended roll-out of the service will encompass Luton, Broxbourne, Huddersfield, Dewsbury and parts of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, taking ntl’s on-demand subscriber… Continue reading NTL Extends On-Demand Coverage By 100,000

GCap Media has become the first broadcaster in Britain to allow independent audits of its SMS and e-mail databases, signing up to allow ABC Electronic (ABCE) to verify its data.The company hopes to send a “clear message to the mobile market” with its pledge to keep accurate data, providing “credible data” to support its opt… Continue reading GCap To Provide Audited Text And E-mail Stats

The Times‘ advertising sales director, Mathew Watkins, has defected to the Telegraph to become the newspaper’s new group sales director, ending his career with News International’s flagship quality title which has spanned more than a decade.The new role will see Watkins responsible for all advertising at the Telegraph, including its classified division, reporting to the… Continue reading Telegraph Scoops Times Ad Director

ITV has signed its second poker sponsorship in as many months, with littlewoodspoker.com signing up for both broadcast and online sponsorship of ITV1’s All Star Poker Challenge.The deal follows similar coverage by online gaming firm, 24h Poker, which last month agreed to sponsor ITV2’s high-profile The Rebel Billionaire (see Poker Firm To Sponsor ITV2 Branson… Continue reading ITV Deal Secures Littlewoods Poker Sponsorship

The Telegraph Group has awarded its direct marketing business to Hall Moore CHI following a closely fought three-way pitch against Personal and Rapier.The move completes the consolidation of the Telegraph‘s business into the Clemmow Hornby Inge group, which already includes CHI for the newspaper’s above-the-line advertising and Naked Inside for communications planning.Explaining the importance of… Continue reading Telegraph Signs Hall Moore CHI For Direct Marketing

The confidence of business executives around the world is in decline, with European respondents of The McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives July 2005 revealing that those who think that Europe’s economy has become worse greatly outnumber those who think it has improved. European executives are less confident in the economic climate for the first… Continue reading Continuing Decline In Global Economic Confidence

Advertisers have started to target their audiences through computer gaming, with US company, Massive Incorporated, launching full-motion video and audio ads in its main distribution title, Anarchy Online. The video ads are inserted in billboards and television screens throughout the games, with the adverts promoting Panasonic and the premiere of the American television series Lost… Continue reading Advertisers Switch To Inter-Game Advertising