John Billett, The Billett ConsultancyJohn Billett’s report on his consultancy’s recent study on advertising effectiveness threw up some intriguing ideas and suggestions at the MRG meeting on Monday 18 January 1999. The main thrusts of his report were first that the BARB definition of ‘viewer’ as ‘present in the room with the set switched on’… Continue reading MRG Evening Meeting – Commercial Break Ecology And Environment
@Home, provider of high speed internet access, announced this week that it is to buy Excite, the loss-making internet search company, in a $6.7 billion deal. The deal is the biggest merger yet in the internet sector, and follows the acquisition of Netscape by AOL last year (see Newsline).BT owns a 50% stake in Excite… Continue reading @Home Acquires Excite In Largest Internet Merger Yet
Express Newspapers has dismissed the Express On Sunday‘s editor, Amanda Platell, following the paper’s publication of an article which detailed the private friendship between Peter Mandelson, former Trade Secretary, and a Brazilian student. Ian Walker, the paper’s news editor, has also been given the sack.The dismissals have fuelled the debate that the Labour government has… Continue reading Express On Sunday Editor Dismissed Following Mandelson Story
The latest IPA Trends In Television Report, for the fourth quarter of 1998, shows that the commercial television sector drew in 59.3% of audience share, increasing its share of viewing against the BBC channels.The report also shows a gradual increase in the amount of television being watched, with viewing up to an average of 3.61… Continue reading Commercial TV Channels Increase Share, According To IPA Report
Stuff, the magazine which was closed by its current publishers Dennis at the beginning of the month, has been rescued by Haymarket Magazines which intends to continue with production of the February edition where Dennis left off.Dennis decided to close the magazine after circulation did not grow at the rate that was anticipated (see Men’s… Continue reading Haymarket Saves Stuff From Closure
The possibility of a bidding war for the Mirror Group is looking more and more likely as yesterday’s £913 million takeover offer from Regional Independent Media (see Regional Independent Media Makes £913m Mirror Bid) is understood to have been rejected by Mirror’s majority shareholder, Phillips & Drew Fund Management (P&D).The offer from RIM was made… Continue reading Mirror Faces Possible Bidding War
Carlton Communications has spent £91 million buying a library of more than 300 films and television programmes from Hollywood company Universal Studios. As well as films such as The Eagle Has Landed and The Big Easy, the library includes classic ITV programmes from the past such as The Saint and the mini-series Jesus of Nazareth.Also… Continue reading Carlton Buys Universal Studios Archive
The BBC’s commercial internet venture, beeb, has appointed David Atter, the former marketing manager behind the Tango ads, to the newly-created post of sales and marketing director. Atter moves from his current position, as director of marketing at Turner Entertainment Networks International, in March.Rupert Miles, director at beeb, said: “David’s marketing experience in the FMCG… Continue reading Beeb Appoints Sales And Marketing Director
Quality Market This round of national newspaper circulation figures, released by the ABC at the end of last week, shows that the Financial Times continues to perform more strongly than the rest of the market – up by 11.6%, or 38,000 copies, year on year. In fact, all of the other national broadsheets lost circulation… Continue reading National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – December 1998
Dennis & Beyond, the customer publishing arm of Dennis Publishing, has set up division which is dedicated to producing customer consumer magazines. The company already publishes customer magazines for CompuServe, travel agent Thomson and estate agents, Winkworth, but claims that this is a burgeoning market sector. In 1998 the market grew by 17% year on… Continue reading Dennis & Beyond Launches Customer Consumer Mags Division
