Capital FM has dropped long-serving DJ Neil Fox from its schedules in favour of former Blue Peter presenter Richard Bacon, selected to front the station’s daily Drive Time show starting in the spring.Capital claims that Bacon was the “number one choice” to replace ‘Foxy’ in one of the most keenly sought jobs in radio as… Continue reading Capital Drops Fox As Bacon Takes Drive Time

Search targeted marketing firm Overture will rebrand as Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions later this year, following Yahoo!’s decision to rebrand its American operations from next quarter.The move will bring together Overture’s sponsored search offerings and Yahoo!’s listings products under the new banner. Through Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions, advertisers of all sizes will have convenient access… Continue reading Yahoo! To Rebrand Overture This Year

Global advertising company, WPP, has agreed to merge it’s current outdoor specialist, Portland Outdoor Limited, with Poster Publicity, creating a £350 million global outdoor media buying and planning business. The deal will see WPP’s Group M transfer its outdoor business and professionals into the new venture, resulting in the emergence of a leading global outdoor… Continue reading WPP Merges Outdoor Division

Morris Tabaksblat, non-executive chairman of publishing group Reed Elsevier, has announced his retirement from the firm, and the instalment, subject to his appointment to the board, of Jan Hommen as his successor. Tabaksblat, who has been chairman since 1999, is reducing his business commitments for personal reasons and will step down from the role following… Continue reading Reed Chairman Retires

Movie downloading is increasing in popularity, with awareness higher among certain demographic groups, such as men and those between the ages of 12 and 34, according to a new report by market research consultancy Ipsos-Insight. A survey of over 1,000 US consumers found that 33% of respondents have never heard of movie downloading and 20%… Continue reading Consumer Awareness Of Movie Downloading Increasing

Industry experts at the first Sponsorship and Marketing conference in London, organised by The World Advertising Research Centre and Admap, discussed the different elements and future progress of sponsorship and advertising last week. Sandra Greer, director of the European Sponsorship Association, cited viewer recognition and brand awareness as two areas in which sponsorship excels itself,… Continue reading Sponsorship Steams Ahead

Outdoor advertising revenue broke new records in 2004, with the gross figure for the last quarter of 2004 reaching £234.95 million, a 2.7% increase on 2003, according to the latest figures released by the Outdoor Advertising Association (OAA). Commenting on the data, Alan James, chief executive of the OAA said: “It is the highest quarterly… Continue reading Outdoor Advertising Breaks Records In 2004

The MediaTel Group Sports Quiz has reached the halfway stage and Russell Budden of BMRB International – TGI is the current leader.The most recent question asked ‘who would win the Carling Cup?’ and Chelsea did just that on Sunday. 55% of entrants predicted the correct answer, including the top 12 placed entrants. This was a… Continue reading MediaTel Group Sports Quiz Reaches Halfway Mark

Magazine publisher IPC has intensified its competition against rival Highbury House with a redesign of its top-selling home interest title, Homes & Gardens, coinciding exactly with Highbury’s overhaul of its home interest portfolio.IPC’s title will be given what the company claims is a “fresh, vibrant new look” along with a new format from its April… Continue reading IPC Challenges Highbury On Home Front

The UK’s broadband networks have failed to deliver the Governments promise to beat other G7 countries to become the most competitive provider of high speed internet connections by this year.A new report from telecoms research specialist Ovum, commissioned by the Department for Trade and Industry, states that British Telecom’s dominance of the nation’s phone networks… Continue reading UK Misses Government Broadband Targets