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Despite the confidence emanating from high-ranking decision makers at the UK’s top companies, there is as yet little concrete evidence to support claims that the marketing and media sectors are on the road to recovery. The latest IPA Bellwether report showed that of those setting new budgets for 2003 in the fourth quarter, twice as… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: Bellwether Brings Mixed Message For Marketers

Graham Wallace, the man largely blamed for the recent travails of Cable & Wireless, is to step down following pressure from shareholders. Wallace has been at the telecoms group for five years and became chief executive in February 1999. He was in the forefront of attempts to establish C&W as a leading carrier of internet… Continue reading Beleaguered C&W Chief To Exit The Fray

Didier Bellens, chief executive of pan-European broadcaster, RTL Group, yesterday painted a fairly flat picture of the European broadcasting marketing, saying that conditions remain tough and that there is little visibility on future advertising trends. In the trading statement covering the year to 31 December 2002, ahead of the group’s results in March, Bellens also… Continue reading No ‘Sustained Recovery’ In European Broadcasting Markets, Says RTL

The Bellwether report, issued today by the IPA, has dampened hopes for a recovery with one in four of the UK’s leading companies revising their budgets downwards during the final quarter of 2003. According to the report, total current marketing budgets were revised down for the second consecutive quarter. However, the drop was not as… Continue reading IPA Bellwether Report: Down But Not Out

The number of subscribers to BSkyB’s digital satellite service is set to grow by 14.3% year on year in the second quarter of 2003, according to operating forecasts by Merrill Lynch analysts. Sky’s financial results are due for release on 14 February and the broker predicts that the total number of direct-to-home (DTH) customers will… Continue reading BSkyB Subs To Grow 14% In Q2, Say Merrill Lynch Forecasts

As expected, Stephen Carter, ex-managing director of cable company NTL, is to be named chief executive of the new communications super regulator Ofcom. Although Ofcom have refused to comment on the appointment, an official announcement from chairman Lord Currie is expected in the next few days. Commentators have suggested that the leadership battle was a… Continue reading Carter Set For Chief Executive Role at Ofcom

There has been a fresh development in the ongoing Kirch saga with reports stating that Haim Saban has re-entered the bidding for the indebted media group. This latest twist comes despite the fact that Henrich Bauer Verlag had agreed a deal to take control of KirchMedia (see Bauer Consortium Takes KirchMedia). However, the publishing giant… Continue reading Saban Back In The Running For Kirch

The administrators of ITV Digital have announced a dramatic U-turn on their decision to charge customers £39.99 for their set-top boxes, which they will now be allowed to keep as a gift. The climb down follows the unpopular move by ITV Digital’s liquidators, Grant Thonton, to collect over 1 million set-top boxes or ask the… Continue reading ITV Digital Subscribers To Keep Set-Top Boxes

Business-to-business adspend increased by 1.6% year-on-year and totalled $656,870.4 million in November, according to new figures from American Business Media (ABM). The rise followed a decline of 9% in October (see Decline Eases Slightly In US B2B Advertising) but advertising page volumes were down by 4%. The biggest surge occurred in the travel sector which… Continue reading B2B Sector Boosted By Advertising Upturn

The UK consolidated its position as Europe’s leading e-commerce market in the run-up to Christmas 2002 with 60% of the online population accessing a retail site during December. Nielsen//NetRatings calculates that 12.8 million UK internet users visited an e-commerce site at some point last month, an increase of 3.7 million on the figure for December… Continue reading UK Acclaimed As European ‘Capital Of E-Commerce’