Cordiant Communications was the media sector’s big story once again last week, falling 36.84% week on week after WPP won the battle to take control of the advertising group, with a recommended offer valuing the company’s debt and equity at £266 million (see WPP Seals £266m Cordiant Takeover). However, both groups will be watching today… Continue reading Sharewatch: Cordiant Falls On Deal Concerns
Online advertising has strengthened its position in the marketing mix, but still lags someway behind more traditional types of marketing such as local press and direct mail, according to a new study from Continental Research.The 2003 E-Commerce Report shows that 24% of UK companies regularly use online advertising, helping it to see expenditure increase by… Continue reading Online Advertising Lags Behind Traditional Marketing
RAJAR has reissued first quarter listening figures for two London stations after a reporting error was discovered.According to Ipsos-RSL, which conducts the survey, a mix-up resulted from the incorrect coding of the listening between Chrysalis’ LBC 97.3 FM and LBC News 1152.The revised figures reveal that Chrysalis Radio’s flagship FM talk station has grown more… Continue reading LBC Listening Figures Corrected
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) has upheld complaints against an advertisement for Sainsbury’s, which claimed that checkout staff would pack customers’ shopping.Three viewers complained that their local Sainsbury’s had explained that they only packed the first three items. Another three viewers said it was only the first four items while one viewer maintained it was… Continue reading ITC Raps Sainsbury’s For Misleading Ads
Trinity Mirror has refused to comment on speculation that it is planning to sell its titles in Northern Ireland as part of a shake-up at the UK publisher. According to a report in the Financial Times, senior executives from Trinity Mirror have approached regional publishing groups Gannett and Johnston Press to sound out the possibility… Continue reading Trinity May Sell Irish Titles
BSkyB and NTL have announced a new agreement which will see Sky’s core channels remain on the NTL network until the end of 2006.As part of the new deal, Sky One and Sky News will continue to be carried on NTL’s analogue and digital TV services while Sky Sports News will still appear on NTL’s… Continue reading Sky Secures Long Term Distribution Agreement With NTL
UBC Media, the UK radio station operator and programme producer, broke into operating profit in its last financial year, the group announced this morning. Before development costs, operating profit was £73,000 for the year ended 31 March 2003, up from a loss of £210,000 the year before. The group moved into the black during the… Continue reading UBC Moves Into Profit In 2003, Airtime Outlook Mixed
The text message phenomenon continued to prevail in May with 1.7 billion messages sent across the four UK GSM networks, according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA).May’s daily average number of text messages was 55 million, compared to 45 million in the year previous and 30 million in May 2001.May’s figures… Continue reading Text Continues To Shine In May
French media and telecommunications giant Vivendi Universal, will this week assess the bids received for its US entertainment assets, according to a report in today’s Financial Times. The Vivendi Universal Entertainment (VUE) division comprises a music company, film studios, theme parks and cable channels. It has received interest from the likes of Liberty Media, General… Continue reading Vivendi To Assess US Entertainment Bids
WPP’s plans to buyout Cordiant Communications may be scuppered yet, if intransigent majority shareholder, Active Value, manages to gather together a sufficient holding in Cordiant to block the deal.Active Value has explicitly stated that it would like to see Cordiant remain independent and has proposed to inject more money into the business in order to… Continue reading Active Value Ups Cordiant Stake To Block WPP Deal
