Ofcom has continued its programme of expansion for the UK’s radio industry today with the unveiling of a new FM licence for Ballymena in Northern Ireland and the surrounding area.The watchdog estimates that the licence could achieve coverage of an area with an adult population of around 56,000, although the exact coverage of any broadcasts… Continue reading Ofcom Offers FM Radio Licence In Ballymena

ITV has announced the appointment of Sky Network’s director of broadcasting and production, Mark Sharman, as its new controller of sport, overseeing the broadcaster’s portfolio of sporting events and charged with capitalising on the company’s wide-ranging sporting coverage.The new role will see Sharman responsible for all of the sporting events covered by ITV, including UEFA… Continue reading ITV Poaches Sky Broadcast Director To Head Sports Division

US broadband phone service provider Vonage has today launched a revolutionary voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) service in the UK, allowing users to plug a VOIP handset directly into their phonelines, bypassing the traditional method of using a PC. The new technology offers users a service similar to a conventional, analogue phone, allowing their broadband connection to… Continue reading VOIP Boosted By Landline Adapter

The number of banner adverts run on European websites has increased by 24%, up from 76,375 in November 2003 to 94,939 in November 2004, according to a new report published by Internet research group Nielsen//NetRatings. Sweden, France and the Netherlands are the leaders in the online ad surge, experiencing the strongest growth in banner ads,… Continue reading Europe Sees Internet Banner Ad Surge

UK advertising expenditure is expected to rise by 4.2% in 2005, with the internet the fastest growing medium, according to revised predictions made by the Advertising Association (AA) in their Advertising Forecast. All media is forecast to increase over the next year, with the internet leading the way; predicted to rise by an impressive 38.1%.… Continue reading UK Adspend Forecast To Rise By 4.2% In 2005

The chief talent officer in the New York branch of Sir Martin Sorrell’s global advertising company WPP has resigned to take the top human resources position at online auction company eBay. According to industry sources, Beth Axelrod resigned her position this week, bringing to an end a three year career with the London based advertising… Continue reading WPP Talent Officer Makes Jump To Ebay

Britain’s mobile phone users welcomed in 2005 with a record-setting flurry of text messages, according to the Mobile Data Association, sending a massive 133 million texts between midnight on 31 December 2004 and midnight on January 1st.The total recorded messages sets a new record daily total, with person to person texts sent across the UK’s… Continue reading New Year Text Message Craze Sets Record

Channel 4 has announced that it will now donate an extra percentage of the revenue generated by votes for Celebrity Big Brother to the south east Asia tsunami relief effort, resulting in all profits from viewer voting being donated to charity.The broadcaster had previously pledged to donate 16p of every vote via telephone, mobile and… Continue reading Channel 4 Donates Big Brother Vote Revenue To Tsunami Relief

Advertising expenditure in the UK looks set to grow steadily in 2005, the industry’s most credible prognosticators have predicted. Forecasts made at the end of 2004 by ZenithOptimedia, Universal McCann, the Advertising Association (AA) and Interdeco all look forward to a slow but solid increase in adspend in the coming year. While the burst of… Continue reading UK Advertising Growth Slow But Steady In 2005

Independent media communications specialist, Carat, has today released revised advertising growth forecasts for 2004, saying that continued recovery in the European markets has helped fuel global adspend ahead of previous expectations, up 6% year on year. In September last year, Carat predicted that advertising expenditure for 2004 would close 5.7% (see Carat Revises 2004 &… Continue reading European Growth Fuels 2004 Global Adspend