Advertising and communications network Interpublic Group has today announced the acquisition of US ad agency True North Communications for $2.1 billion.Interpublic emerges as the successful suitor to True North following speculation that French media group Havas was back in the bidding for the agency. The UK’s WPP Group was also rumoured to be interested in… Continue reading Interpublic Acquires True North For $2.1bn
A week of gloom as the foot and mouth crisis deepened, affecting advertising spend, the Japanese and US economy teetered on the brink of recession and evidence that the dotcom bubble has well and truly burst came as media companies made further cuts to internet investment, meant that all but one of the media companies… Continue reading Sharewatch
Monday MediaTel’s weekly media focus and analysis, Media Track, is featured in Media Business.Future Network and Taylor Nelson Sofres release final results for the year 2000.Tuesday The consumer retail prices index for February is released by the Office for National Statistics.Wednesday Johnson Press, Independent News & Media and RTL all release final results for the… Continue reading The Week Ahead
Cinema admissions during February reached a high of 13.8m, fuelled by the success of Hannibal. An average of 3.45m people visited the cinema each week during last month, an increase of 9.5% compared to January (see January Cinema Admissions Show 9.5% Increase Year On Year).Admissions were down year on year however due to the huge… Continue reading Hannibal Reaps Success At Box Office
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has criticised the political parties of the UK for failing to come up with their own code of self-regulation for complaints regarding political advertising.As of January this year, and the publishing of the 10th edition of the British Codes for Advertising and Sales Promotion, the ASA no longer considers complaints… Continue reading ASA Washes Its Hands Of Political Advertising Regulation
The BBC’s board of governors has been criticised by Gerald Kaufman for being past its sell-by-date. The chairman of the commons media select committee, he launched his report on the Government’s Communications White Paper yesterday, saying that the governors had “outlived their usefulness” and suggested that new plans for the regulation of the Corporation were… Continue reading BBC Should Be Regulated By Ofcom, Says Government Report
Despite the fact that the new ITV licence fees, due to be announced within the next few days, are expected to be higher than before, it is thought that the channel’s continued lack of carriage on the digital satellite platform could have more serious financial implications for the channel in the short term.Those ITV franchises… Continue reading Lack Of Carriage On Digital Satellite Could Lose ITV Companies £8m Per Quarter
Shares in Trinity Mirror were up yesterday following the release of its financial results for 2000 (see Profits Up At Trinity Mirror As ic24 Buyer Is Sought). News that it is to put its ISP ic24 up for sale following internet losses of £42.3m was considered favourably by the market and prices rose 6% to… Continue reading Sharewatch
A scaling back of digital activities at Trinity Mirror is expected to lead to the loss of around 60 jobs. The regional newspaper group yesterday announced that it planned to reduce its digital investment following increased losses (see Profits Up At Trinity Mirror As ic24 Buyer Is Sought).The centrepiece of its cut-backs will be the… Continue reading Digital Cut-Backs At Trinity Lead To Loss Of 60 Jobs
Yesterday’s financial results from Trinity Mirror (see Profits Up At Trinity Mirror As ic24 Buyer Is Sought) received a largely positive reaction from the national press and brokers today. Uncertainty around advertising growth is preventing very positive outlooks for the newspaper publisher, although ABN Amro notes that Trinity stock is trading at a 46% discount… Continue reading Trinity Mirror Financial Results – Reaction
