Shares in WPP suffered their biggest decline yesterday, falling 105p to £10.29, despite the company reporting rising profits in its annual results (see Network Inflation Drives Advertisers Away From TV, Says WPP). Commerzbank downgraded the advertising group on the basis that its share price was not matched by its growth prospects.Radio group GWR was one… Continue reading Sharewatch
The Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR) body has this morning announced the appointment of Jane O’Hara as its new managing director. She replaces current executive director, Peter Jenkins, who is planning to leave the group at the end of May 2000 (see RAJAR Director To Leave In Spring 2000). O’Hara currently works as a consultant… Continue reading RAJAR Appoints New Managing Director
HSBC bank has renewed its sponsorship of all ITV drama premiere’s in a deal worth around £3 million. The contract will see HSBC associated with ITV’s drama premiere one-offs and mini-series for the duration of 2000 and kicks off with a feature-length edition of Poirot this Saturday.It has also been reported that NTL has won… Continue reading HSBC Renews ITV Drama Premiere Sponsorship
Radio group GWR rose 52˝ to a record 790p after announcing the launch of its internet arm, Ecast Ventures (see GWR Group Launches New Internet Company).Telewest jumped almost 9% to close at 456ź as bid rumours pushed the stock.Granada, however, continued to shed after a poor recommendation earlier in the week (see Sharewatch).The closing prices… Continue reading Sharewatch
It is just three months since the UK cinema industry celebrated its most successful weekend in history and already the record has been broken again. Over the weekend of 11-13 February, box office admissions reached a new high of £14.2 million, pushed by the release of computer-animated film Toy Story 2 and The Beach, starring… Continue reading Feature: Advertisers Respond To Changing Cinema Audience
The planned women’s magazine from Dennis Publishing (see Dennis To Promote ‘Project Denise’ With £1.5m Campaign) will hit the newsstands on 24 Febuary. PS is a bi-monthly title targeting 30-something women and concentrating on the home shopping market. EMAP is to relaunch Select magazine in March. Its circulation was down in the latest ABC audit… Continue reading Magazines Brief
Global advertising and PR group, WPP, says that the real cost of advertising on network television, the primary media medium, is continuing to rise by as much as 5-10% a year on both sides of the Atlantic. WPP says that this is caused partly by increased pricing by an oligopoly of media owners and partly… Continue reading Network Inflation Drives Advertisers Away From TV, Says WPP
The Word, a one-stop-shop regional press sales house, is set to close its business at the end of the month. The demise of the company follows the resignation of its chief executive, Gavin Caldwell, in October last year (see Newsline Brief). It was understood that Caldwell was frustrated at not being able to expand the… Continue reading The Word Set To Close
GWR announced today the launch of a new internet business, Ecast Ventures. Investing £6.5 million in the business, it aims to target the radio group’s 10 million weekly radio listeners with local and national sites.A local portal, koko.co.uk, will eventually be developed into a national network of locally orientated websites providing news and information. The… Continue reading GWR Group Launches New Internet Company
Granada shed 37p to 601p yesterday after Charterhouse Securities said that last week’s boost to the stock (see Sharewatch) – which saw it rise by 16% – had been overdone.BSkyB also saw losses after a recent run of high prices. It was one of the worst performers on the FTSE yesterday, losing 119˝p to £16.87˝p.The… Continue reading Sharewatch
