Home shopping retailer Littlewoods is taking over from Reckitt Benckiser as sponsor of ITV soap Emmerdale.The two year deal begins at the end of August and includes broadcast sponsorship on ITV1, ITV2 and ITV3, online sponsorship, interactive sponsorship, mobile interactive bumpers and licensing.Cast members will take part in promotional activities across the Littlewoods book and… Continue reading Littlewoods to sponsor Emmerdale

The rate of decline in UK marketing spend has eased for the second quarter in a row, according to the IPA’s latest Bellwether survey.The 2009 Q2 report links the easing to an improvement in business confidence, with companies surveyed reporting that their financial prospects have improved for the first time since the first quarter of… Continue reading Bellwether Report: Marketing budgets cut at slower rate in Q2

The latest ABC figures show that the London Evening Standard‘s circulation was up by around 12% month on month in June, taking its total to an impressive 236,075 copies.Looking at the afternoon freesheets, the London Lite saw its distribution remain static period on period at just under 401,000 copies, while thelondonpaper was down by around… Continue reading Evening Standard’s circulation up 12% month on month

Reed Business Information is selling its B2B travel division, including magazines Travel Weekly and Travolution, to entrepreneur Clive Jacobs.He has agreed to buy the magazines and website Gazetteers.com, as well as associated online services and events, for an undisclosed sum.The former publishing director of Reed Business Information’s travel division, Simon Ferguson, will run the newly… Continue reading Reed Business Information sells B2B travel business

US broadcaster ESPN is launching a new UK channel on 3 August to show its 46 Premier League football matches.ESPN bought the rights for the games after Setanta failed to keep up its payments to the league (see ESPN wins rights to 46 Premier League matches).The channel, which will also show some US sports which… Continue reading ESPN to launch UK sport channel in August

New figures from BARB for June 2009 show that 25% of all UK adults have watched TV on the internet, an 8% year on year increase, while 10% watched TV online in the past week.The figures, revealed by BARB chief executive Bjarne Thelin at last week’s IEA Future of Broadcasting Conference, also showed that 38%… Continue reading 25% of UK adults have watched TV online

The global ad market is forecast to decline 8.5% this year, with the UK set to suffer a 10.5% fall, according to a new forecast from ZenithOptimedia.This global figure is revised down from its April forecast of a 6.9% decline, after Q1 came in below predictions.China is forecast to grow 5.4% this year, overtaking the… Continue reading ZenithOptimedia revises down global ad forecast

Independent News & Media has cut its stake in Indian media company Jagran Prakashan from 20.8% to 13.5%, raising €22 million (£19 million).INM is currently negotiating the refinancing of a £200 million (£178 million) bond, due for payment on 24 July.It said that it would use the money raised from the sale to “pay down… Continue reading INM cuts stake in Indian media company

Associated Northcliffe Digital (AND) has launched the first phase of its ‘Local People Network’ hyper-local websites.The roll-out, of an initial 23 local community websites in the South-West of England, covers areas such as Falmouth and Clifton with between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants.A further twenty plus sites are due to launch in the South-West of England… Continue reading Associated Northcliffe Digital launches hyper-local sites

IPC Connect’s women’s weekly Pick Me Up has got a new look, backed by a three month sponsorship of Virgin Media TV’s Living 1 and Living 2 chat programmes.Creative agency Quiet Storm has been appointed to support the new look which includes a new layout and features.Oswin Grady, Pick Me Up publishing director, said: “Consumer… Continue reading New look for Pick Me Up