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US e-commerce spend jumped by 54% in September to $4.7 billion, according to a report released yesterday by Nielsen//NetRatings and Harris Interactive. Just under 39 million people in the US bought something online last month, a new record according to the research companies’ Interactive eCommercePulse measurement system. However, spend was actually down 14.7% month on… Continue reading Number Of US Online Buyers Peaks In September

Global media giant AOL Time Warner defied the current advertising malaise by reporting a Q3 earnings increase of 20%. AOL Time Warner CEO Jerry Levin once again (see AOL Confident That Adspend Slowdown Has Arrested) cited diversity of interests as the reason why his company had managed such a healthy performance in such poor conditions.… Continue reading AOL Time Warner Reports Q3 Earnings Up 20% To $2.5 Billion

Pearson has warned investors that, if there is no improvement in market conditions, profits at FT Group could fall by as much as 40% for the full year as ad revenues are hit across the group. In a statement this morning the group said that advertising cancellations coupled with a decline in new business generated… Continue reading Pearson Warns That FT Profits May Fall By 40%

Cable company, Telewest Communications, is to receive £125 million of additional funding from GE Capital as part of the company’s £2.25 billion bank facility. The capital represents half of a £250 million commitment from institutional investors, as announced in March (see Telewest Signs £2.25bn Refinancing Deal) Charles Burdick, group finance director of Telewest, said: “This… Continue reading Telewest Receives

According to the latest Bellwether Report from the IPA, companies reducing their advertising budgets for 2002 will be outnumbered almost two to one by those increasing their spending. The current downturn will be brief, according to those surveyed and 2002 will see the return of advertiser confidence. Of those questioned, 42% of companies setting new… Continue reading Q3 Bellwether Report Suggests Downturn Will Be ‘Brief’

Online content producers that believe users will pay for their content because of its intrinsic value are wrong, according to Making Content Pay, a new report by Forrester Research, released today. The research firm claims that the user’s experience of web-based content is complementary to other media, rather than as substitute to them. For this… Continue reading Users Will Not Pay For Most Online Content, Says Forrester

As with virtually all media companies, the after-effects of the 11 September attacks on the US have been felt harshly at US newspaper and television group Gannett. The company estimates that between $15 and $20 million was lost following the attacks, as TV stations ran commercial-free and newspapers lost advertisers. Gannett saw total operating revenues… Continue reading Gannett Sees Swifter Ad Improvement As Attacks Hit Revenues

Analysts at ABN Amro have reappraised their outlook of VNU, the Anglo-Dutch publishing group, after its stock has fallen more than 40% in the last twelve months. The broker says that VNU has substantially altered its business mix over recent months, moving away from the volatile advertising-dependent activities such as consumer publishing and toward the… Continue reading VNU Builds Defences, Says ABN

WPP has extended its offer for UK media buying group, Tempus, until 22 October, the group announced this morning. This is the second extension of the bid, the first closing yesterday. In the meantime, WPP decided to seek to back out of the deal by drawing on the material adverse change clause (see WPP Seeks… Continue reading WPP Extends Tempus Offer To Negotiate Withdrawal

German pay-TV group, Kirch Media, is in discussions with the BBC and ITV to sell the broadcasting rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup competitions. Kirch owns the global broadcasting rights to the next two World Cup tournaments and will sell on these on a regiona by region basis. It has already reached an… Continue reading Kirch In Talks With BBC And ITV Over 2002/2006 World Cup Rights