Guardian Media Group (GMG) has announced a positive end of year trading update, enjoying revenue growth of 17% year on year for all its stations, signalling a move to profit for the first time. The radio division of GMG has shown remarkable growth, outperforming the industry as a whole, with revenues from Jazz FM and… Continue reading GMG Reveals 17% Revenue Growth Across All Stations

NTL Broadcast and O2 will be testing the televisual capabilities of the next generation of mobile phones, with BSkyB, Chart TV Show, Discovery Networks Europe, Shorts International and Turner Broadcasting among the first broadcasters to provide 16 television channels to customers with Nokia’s new 7710 handset. The six month trial will take part in the… Continue reading NTL And O2 Start First Mobile TV Trials

Satellite broadcaster, BSkyB, has appointed i-level to help drive continued growth in sales of Sky Digital and Sky+ via its sky.com website. Over 7.7 million customers in the UK and Ireland now receive Sky Digital, with the number of Sky+ customers more than doubling to 770,000 in the 12 months to 31 March 2005. Around… Continue reading BSkyB Continues To Drive Sky Digital And Sky+ Growth

Carat, the world’s largest independent media agency network, has forecast global advertising expenditure growth to be 4.9% in 2005, approximately in line with its previous estimation in September of 5.0% (see US Online Ad and Marketing Spend To Reach $14.7 Billion in 2005). The media agency attributes its slight revision to the price of oil,… Continue reading Carat Predicts Global Adpsend Growth Of 4.9% In 2005

Less than a third of UK consumers have heard of the term “digital switchover” with a significant proportion not knowing where to turn to for advice, according to media watchdog Ofcom’s new Consumer Panel Study. The research showed that out of more than 2,500 consumers surveyed, just 10% said they were aware of the digital… Continue reading UK Public Unaware Of Impending Digital Switchover

Media super-regulator, Ofcom, has awarded the FM commercial radio licence for Banbury to CN Radio, selecting the company’s bid from three applications received by the closing date in February.Ofcom’s licensing committee selected CN for approval following its application for “a locally focused, adult contemporary radio station with news information and features of particular interest to… Continue reading CN Radio Scoops Banbury FM Licence

Viacom’s digital poster sites will go live for the first time this week, with Tottenham Court Road tube station the first underground site to feature the digital billboards.The 66 digital sites, either side of the escalators at the station, will enable advertisers to create animated posters that move or feature changing text and images. All… Continue reading Viacom Breaks New Ground With Digital Tube Posters

Virgin Radio confirmed to NewsLine today that sales director Lee Roberts has left the station by mutual agreement.This comes weeks after the appointment of a new chief executive Fru Hazlitt, who joined from Yahoo, where she had been managing director, having previously been head of sales at Capital Radio (see SMG Strengthens Hold Over Virgin… Continue reading Sales Director Roberts Leaves Virgin

Paris based advertising group, Havas, has continued its turnaround which began in the first quarter of 2004, both in terms of organic growth and Net New Business, revealing a growth of 1.4% in the first quarter of 2005, double what it achieved in the same period of 2004. Havas attributed this strong increase to the… Continue reading Havas Continues Strong Performance

Media group Chrysalis has revealed a dramatic drop in its profits for the first half of the financial year, attributing the decline to falling audiences and a difficult period of trading in its books division. The group shows turnover to have dropped to £78.4 million for the six months ended 28 February 2005, compared to… Continue reading Chrysalis Reveals Drop In First Half Profits