Belinda Beeftink’s opening address as chairperson of the MRG talked of researchers “growing up” – a couple of hours later the traditional researcher had been gunned down with scarcely a whimper in response. The assassination, subtle in some cases, merciless in others, had been led by client, research company and independent media strategist.The last was… Continue reading Reflections On The 1998 MRG Conference, Nice
A report carried out by Fletcher Research states that the Financial Times website www.ft.com receives the most advertising revenue. The UK Banners Survey says that FT.com raised £1.1 million between February and August 1998. The amount of advertising spend on the site is due to the greater expansion of financial services companies.Tony Blin-Stoyle, commercial director… Continue reading FT Website Earns Most Revenue
Capital Radio’s preliminary financial results, released today for the six month period running up to 30 September, showed a group turnover of £117.2 million (up 9.8% from last year), and pre tax profit of £37.8 million, after lower exceptional charges than last year.Earnings per share are at 19p.Capital gained control of the London station XFM… Continue reading Capital Radio 10% Rise In Turnover
BARB has announced that is to appoint Caroline McDevitt to the position of chief executive. She will be taking over the position on January 1st 1999 from John Fox who will be retiring.Caroline was previously the commercial director of Westcountry Television until it was taken over by Carlton TV in 1997. BARB is its restructed… Continue reading New Chief At BARB
Neil Shepherd-Smith, a consultant already to two JICs, appeared to have his eyes on a third when he queried elements of the new RAJAR Gold Standard methodology at this year’s MRG. He believed the model took no account of the number of spots in a schedule, and that the new standard was flawed enough that… Continue reading “All that Glistens is not Gold”
The GWR Group, which earlier this month called for a review of the rules governing radio ownership (see Newsline), today released its interim results for the six month period up until 30 September 1998.Turnover increased by 17% from last year, rising to £41.2 million, and pre-tax profit rose a healthy 31% to £8.3 million.Earnings per… Continue reading GWR Pre-Tax Profits Rise 31%
After recent speculation that the Interpublic Group was to pool its UK media brands, a spokeserson within the group has stated that there are in fact no discussions about such a move.Western International Media, Initiative and Universal McCann will remain as separate brands in the UK.Western International Media: 0171 584 5033
Christina Hartley of IPC Weeklies used a “soap-box” session at the conference to query the validity of NRS and TGI readership data – and in particular the differences between the two surveys. Using examples from Now magazine and TV & Satellite Week which showed significant discrepancies in total audience and audience composition respectively, she asked… Continue reading NRS and TGI – “More Questions Than Answers”
The Chairman of Trinity plc, Peter Graf, has called for a change in the rules regarding media ownership. In an article for the Newspaper Society’s NS News, Mr Graf states that regional newspapers are being subjected to specific ownership regulations which restrict their natural growth as businesses.In his article Mr Graf also says that any… Continue reading More Calls For Changes To Ownership Rules
“Advertising avoidance is the biggest issue facing us as media researchers”, said Ivor Hussein, research director of Western International Media, at this years MRG Conference in Nice. “It is an issue that has been ignored for far too long”, he told the conference. It must be accepted that advertising is providing a diminishing return on… Continue reading Who are these “Ad Avoiders”?
