Big Brother failed to perform last night, but surprisingly it was not the celebrities on ITV1’s The X Factor: The Battle of the Stars who beat them.The big winner was in fact BBC1, as its show about ageing policemen, New Tricks, managed to pull in 7.6 million adult viewers, a 33.6% audience share.Big Brother, perhaps… Continue reading Big Brother Beaten By BBC1

Yahoo! and eBay have joined forces in a new deal bringing together advertising, payment and communications, that sees them further consolidate their positions in the ongoing online feud with Microsoft and Google.Under the multi-year partnership, “click-to-call” advertising, which allows users to click on an ad link and call advertisers direct from their computers, will be… Continue reading Yahoo! And eBay Join Forces

Big Brother beat down the opposition once again with an amazing 4.3 million adult viewers watching last night’s show, possibly because they had heard that Dawn, following rule breaking, was in for a severe reprimand.Big Brother’s 21.1% share of viewers reflects the massive buzz the show is creating at the moment, with suicidal Shahbaz leaving… Continue reading Big Brother: Big Viewing Figures

Ulster Television (UTV) expects its talkSPORT radio station to receive a World Cup revenue boost (see TalkSPORT Campaign Reaches Fever Pitch), and agrees with commentators that ITV1 will not do as well from the tournament as had been anticipated.UTV chairman John McGuckian was speaking at the company’s AGM today, where he said that UTV expected… Continue reading TalkSPORT World Cup Revenue Growth

BSkyB, in a joint bid with BT, has won ‘near-live’ rights to 242 FA Premier League Matches with a three-year £84.3m deal covering the 2007-08 to 2009-10 seasons.BSkyB will be able to show full delayed coverage or extended highlights of all Barclays Premiership matches which are not broadcast live.Vic Wakeling, managing director of Sky Sports,… Continue reading ‘Near-Live’ Football For Sky And BT Vision

Text messaging football fans should be careful that their thumbs don’t drop off, after a staggering 120 million messages were sent on FA Cup final day (May 13) and a whopping 124 million on Champions League final day (May 17).Figures revealed by the Mobile Data Association (MDA), show that 104 million texts were sent per… Continue reading Text Messaging Continues To Grow

Business magazines have retained their position as an invaluable source of information despite the boom in online publishing, new research commissioned by Royal Mail reveals.The survey of UK business decision makers saw 92% say that printed magazines are as relevant as ever, stating that print copies would be their chosen route for receiving industry information… Continue reading Businessmen Prefer Print

JCDecaux has continued its strong start to 2006 by retaining its outdoor advertising contract with BAA, in a deal worth £500 million (see JCDecaux Sees Strong Start To 2006).JCDecaux inherited the account in 1999, when it bought out Sky Sites. The new contract, which could last up to ten years, begins in April 2007 and… Continue reading BAA Continues With JCDecaux

RAJAR has unveiled plans for a two-year audience measurement contract starting in January 2007, to be split between Ipsos MORI, RSMB and TNS, with RAJAR joining forces with BARB on an experimental electronic data-capture programme.The new two-year contract will allow RAJAR to introduce improvements including a simplified radio map, faster data delivery and more efficient… Continue reading RAJAR Announces 2007 Measurement Contract Details

Ofcom has extended the closing date for its consultation on the restriction of television advertising of food and drink products to children.The new deadline is June 30, which Ofcom says will allow it to use figures from the whole of 2005, rather than a combination of data for late 2004/early 2005, which is all that… Continue reading Fast Foods and Fat Kids