Specialist magazine giant, Future Publishing, has acquired A&S Publishing for £5.95 million, adding the firm’s 11 motoring magazine titles to its portfolio and gaining the rights to eight national motoring events.Amongst the titles acquired under the deal are Classic Ford, Fast Ford, Mini Magazine, Total Vauxhall, Retro Cars and Total BMW. Commenting on the purchase,… Continue reading Future Fuels Motoring Portfolio With A&S Acquisition

IPC’s fortnightly soap magazine, Soaplife, has announced the creation of a one shot Eastenders Soaplife Special, hoping to entice readers with a celebration of the programme’s 20th year.The one shot is being produced by Soaplife in association with sister title What’s on TV, and will coincide with the BBC programme’s 20th birthday in February this… Continue reading IPC Targets Soap Addicts With One Shot Special

Commercial radio groups, GWR, Capital and Scottish Radio Holdings have issued trading updates within the last week, with all but SRH painting a depressing picture of radio advertising at the end of 2004.GWR stated that it had been affected by weak trading throughout October and November, but boosted by some growth during December, while Capital… Continue reading Radio Groups Report Mixed Performance At End Of Year

Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) has issued a positive trading statement to shareholders, for the period October to December, announcing an 11% growth in revenues and a 5% increase in like-for-like revenues. Although the national radio market was challenging in the first quarter, especially during December, SRH reported a strong performance in local radio advertising, with… Continue reading Scottish Radio Holdings Optimistic About 2005

Global advertising company WPP, has won European approval for its $1.5 billion purchase of New York based Grey Global Group, despite industry worries how the merger may affect the market for media buying. The European Commission has today given WPP the go ahead for the acquisition of Grey, clearing the way for Grey shareholders to… Continue reading WPP Approved To Buy Grey

Commercial radio group, Capital Radio plc, has today issued a trading update, saying that the group’s overall revenue has dropped by 4% in the quarter from October to December 2004. The update is reflective of the challenging market conditions faced by the radio industry over the past few months. However, the Group is optimistic that… Continue reading Capital Radio Revenues Down After Slow End Of 2004

Commercial radio group, GWR, has announced a negative trading statement with the Group’s like for like revenues falling by 3% year on year, in the quarter to December 31 2004. The Group was affected by weak trading in the radio advertising market throughout October and November, but boosted by some growth during December. GWR saw… Continue reading Weak Radio Advertising Affects GWR

Market penetration of mobile phone ownership has exceeded 100% in the UK, with the number of mobile handsets currently in circulation greater than the UK’s population, according to data published by the Mobile Data Association (MDA). The total is based on the number of contract and prepay subscriptions, purchased over the holiday season and is… Continue reading UK Mobile Phone Penetration Higher Than Population

Only one in six internet users in the US can distinguish between organic search results and paid search adverts, according to a new study published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The report finds that web searchers are “incredibly naive”, with only 38% of users being able to tell the difference between relevant… Continue reading US Internet Users Naive About Search Engines

The Celebrity Big Brother house closed its doors last night as series three drew to an end, with Manchunian music man Bez striding to a surprise victory, watched by a peak of six million viewers.The series enjoyed a strong performance in its last few days, with average audiences of around 4.5 million for the evictions… Continue reading Celeb Big Brother Bows Out With A Bang