The headline rate of inflation dropped to 1.6% in October from 1.7 in September (see Inflation Rate Subsides For September), according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.Underlying inflation remained unchanged at 2.3% during the month, below the government’s target rate of 2.5%.The retail prices index for October was 172.6.Subscribers can access… Continue reading Inflation Rate Continues To Drop During October
Emap today released interim results which, although in line with expectations, demonstrated the extent to which the group had been hit by the advertising slump and forecast no second half recovery. The group said “normalised” pre-tax profits, excluding figures from its US operation which was sold in July (see Petersen Sale Closes ‘Difficult And Unhappy… Continue reading Emap Results ‘In Line With Expectations’ But No Second Half Recovery Expected
Unconfirmed press reports over the weekend suggest that Carlton had held talks with Bertelsmann TV subsidiary RTL during September, at which time an informal offer was made by the German group (see WSJ Reports Bertelsmann Interest In ITV Companies). Carlton saw shares fall 3.33% yesterday to finish at £2.32, a loss of 8p on the… Continue reading Sharewatch
Publicis, the French advertising group which owns Saatchi & Saatchi and co-owns the recently merged Zenith/Optimedia operations (see Optimedia And Zenith Merged By Parent Companies) yesterday released Q3 results which show better-than-expected billings for the year to date. Consolidated billings of Publicis Groupe SA rose by 56.5% in the first nine months to reach 11.3… Continue reading Publicis Results Reveal Growth Despite Market Conditions
Richard Foan, managing director of ABC Electronic and Roger Holland, executive chairman of JICNET, told delegates at the MRG conference last week that significant steps needed to be taken if the internet is to become “a truly accountable medium.”Foan explained that the tools capable of making complete accountability possible are already in place but that… Continue reading MRG One Day Conference: Making The Internet Accountable
The advertising downturn is taking its toll on the industry but John Harlow, partner in Naked Communications, suggests that marketing partnerships could be the light at the end of the tunnel for many advertisers.The industry is going through an uncomfortable period. Faced with economic uncertainty, job losses, declining revenues and budgets, it’s no wonder that… Continue reading Happy Families
Alan Higgs, director of NOP Media, followed hard on the heels of Roger Pratt at the MRG one day conference, with his discussion of a new readership accumulation study commissioned under a completely separate contract from the main NRS survey.Higgs pointed out that while the planning and buying of newspaper and magazine advertising is based… Continue reading MRG One Day Conference: Audience Accumulation Models
Helen Tridgell and Sue Cox of Postar along with Sally Gibson of More Group, spoke of the need for greater accountability in outdoor advertising at the MRG conference in London last week.Tridgel, managing director of Postar, said that the outdoor industry was becoming increasingly sophisticated and the ability to provide planners with co-ordinated multi-format, multi-media… Continue reading MRG One Day Conference: Knowing More About Outdoor
Analysts at ABN AMRO are sticking by their forecast of a 20% drop in ad revenue at ITV in November despite popular opinion within the trade press that 15% is a more likely figure. ABN ‘remains cautious’ about ITV, but says that if the general trends within the market continue to look ‘cyclical’ there is… Continue reading ABN ‘Remains Cautious’ On ITV Ad Revenue Forecasts
Week on week analysis of the media market reveals strong performances for both Carlton and Granada amid growing speculation that the ITV partners are considering restructuring the troubled pay-per-view platform, ITV Digital (see Former BSkyB Exec To Review ITV Digital). The former saw shares rise 22.76% to finish at £2.40, while the latter was up… Continue reading Sharewatch
