Media communications group WPP has this morning posted first quarter organic revenue growth of 6% – including, for the first time, the Young & Rubicam network. This is lower than the 10% analysts at ABN Amro had expected and well below the 13.8% growth posted by rival network Omnicom yesterday.Regionally, North American revenues were up… Continue reading WPP Q1 Results Disappoint Market And Brokers
Emap Elan’s Looks magazine is to be relaunched with an increased celebrity focus, a new logo and the title Celebrity Looks from the June issue this year.Since its launch in 1985 the magazine has been a fashion and beauty title aimed at 16-25 year olds. Its circulation, which began around the 130,000 mark, peaked at… Continue reading Emap Moves Looks Into Celebrity Territory
Channel 4 has promised to “encourage a younger generation in the values of public service broadcasting” with its programming priorities for 2001/2002. Commenting on the statement of intent his channel submitted to the Independent Television Commission (ITC) this week, director of programmes Tim Gardam commented, “Too often regulation has become an arid calculation of the… Continue reading Channel 4 Statement Of Intent To Continue Innovation And Quality
The new president of the IPA has warned that the advertising industry in the UK is losing its creative touch. Addressing the IPA members’ lunch with his inaugural speech this week, Bruce Haines warned that hard work was needed to stay ahead.“We need to do much, much more to promote the quality of our work… Continue reading New IPA President Tells Industry To Embrace Creativity
Goldman Sachs lowered its 12 month price target for BSkyB yesterday, causing shares in the satellite broadcaster to fall 36½p to £8.45. Terrestrial TV companies Carlton and Granada also had a bad day, as the market remained unconvinced by its revamp plans for ONdigital (see Prebble Heads Up An Integrated ITV). Carlton shares ended the… Continue reading Sharewatch
Reuters reported strong Q1 growth yesterday, as expected (see Reuters Stock Falls On Slower Q2 Warning) but warned that Q2 growth was unlikely to occur at the same rate. This produced an unfavourable reaction from the market, which left shares down 65p at £9.10.Bright Station announced an alliance between its Smartlogik unit and IBM yesterday,… Continue reading Sharewatch
Interactive entertainment company Two Way TV has received £12m investment from Swedish group SMI Media. The deal will see SMI become a significant shareholder in the group with two of its directors sitting on the board.Two Way TV launched in 1992 developing systems to allow viewers to compete with their favourite TV gameshows. The Two… Continue reading Two Way TV Gets £12m Investment Boost
The government has proposed boosting the strength of the digital TV signal in order to improve quality and encourage adoption of the technology before the proposed analogue switch-off date of 2010. Culture secretary Chris Smith and Trade & Industry secretary Stephen Byers have this week written to senior controllers of the terrestrial broadcasters seeking their… Continue reading Power Increase For Digital TV Signal Planned
Carlton and Granada have today confirmed plans for changes within the structure of ITV including a radical overhaul of their joint-owned pay-tv channel ONdigital. Stuart Prebble is to be appointed chief executive of the network which will now operate three businesses – ITV channels, ITV Digital and ITV.com.ITV Digital is the rebranded name for ONdigital.… Continue reading Prebble Heads Up An Integrated ITV
Over a third of all households in the UK now have internet access, some 9 million homes, according to new research by NetValue. Those connected are also using the internet more often and for longer periods, with usage in March 2001 higher than ever before at an average of 24 sessions over 10.5 days.Within the… Continue reading One Third Of All UK Homes Now Connected To The Net
