More Industry News articles

Reed Elsevier has scrapped the sale of its Reed Business Information unit, which includes the magazines New Scientist and Farmers Weekly. The publisher said it had ended talks with potential bidders because the worsening state of the economy and poor credit market conditions meant that it could no longer make a disposal “on acceptable terms”.… Continue reading Reed Elsevier scraps sale of trade magazine division

US ad spending declined by 1.7% year on year in the first nine months of 2008, according to new data from TNS Media Intelligence. Ad spending during the third quarter of 2008 was down 2.0% versus last year, despite a positive stimulus from the Summer Olympics and political elections. Jon Swallen, SVP Research at TNS… Continue reading US ad spend declined 1.7% in first nine months of 2008

More than one in 10 (11%) young adults age 18-34 in the US now watches TV online at least once a week, and these internet-TV watchers also spend an extra hour each day with media compared with their same-age counterparts, according to new data from Knowledge Networks. Specifically, the 18-to-34 ‘leading-edge media group’ – defined… Continue reading Watching online TV growing in popularity in US

Advertisers in the UK are complying with rules governing junk food marketing aimed at children, according to an Advertising Standards Authority compliance report.Of 927 ads surveyed by the ASA across media including TV, cinema, online and posters, just 10 breached the advertising code – a compliance rate of 99%.Eight of the 10 breaches were in… Continue reading Majority of junk food ads complying with advertising code

Channel 4 could be merged with the profitable BBC Worldwide in a new move to prevent the broadcaster from going bankrupt.The BBC’s merger plan to save Channel 4 is currently being discussed by regulators and ministers, though Ofcom originally dismissed the idea.In July, Ofcom rejected the idea of giving Channel 4 a stake in BBC… Continue reading Channel 4 could merge with BBC Worldwide

The BBC, ITV and BT are joining together to work as partners to deliver on-demand TV over broadband. The initiative is open for all public service broadcasters, device developers and other ISPs.The proposals, which form part of the BBC Executive’s wider partnership proposals, would see the development of a standards based open environment for broadband… Continue reading BBC outlines proposal for broadband TV partnerships

Adam Smith of GroupM gave a few pointers yesterday as to the shape of 2009 at an M&M Briefing at the Century Club, with GroupM “desperate” for Kangaroo to launch.Speaking at an afternoon briefing entitled ‘Advertising and Recession’, Smith went on to say that his organisation’s buyers would buy Kangaroo “three times over”. Smith attributed… Continue reading GroupM are “desperate” for Kangaroo

Culture secretary Andy Burnham has said he will not rule out top-slicing the licence fee to secure the future of Channel 4.Speaking at a Voice of the Listener and Viewer event in Parliament, Burnham said that although this option is a last resort, it would not be ruled out.“There is real potential in examining several… Continue reading Culture secretary will not rule out top-slicing licence fee

WPP’s chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell warns of possible job cuts in the group’s key markets, including the UK.Speaking at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Sorrell predicted a bleak forecast for 2009, confirming once again that jobs in Western markets will be axed as group revenue shifts towards emerging markets.Sorrell said: “In the… Continue reading Sorrell predicts WPP job losses in 2009

ITV1’s live coverage of the UEFA Champions League match only managed to pull in 3.3 million average viewers between 7.30pm and 10pm last night.Around 4.2 million peak viewers tuned in during the second half of the game to see Chelsea beat CFR Cluj 2-1, securing a 14.6% average audience share for the commercial broadcaster.Meanwhile, BBC… Continue reading ITV’s football coverage loses out to Survivors