This week has seen the sale of GMG’s regional titles to Trinity Mirror and the forced sale of some of BSkyB’s stake in ITV. Raymond Snoddy comments on the “sadness and eloquence” of the deals.

Video is key to the transformation of television over the next 10 years, according to a new report by communications consultancy informitv.

The Media Research Group’s one day conference offered an insight into what the industry is planning in 2010, with updates from all the leading industry currencies including POSTAR, UKOM and RAJAR.

After four years preparation and two years setting up, today saw the official launch of the new BARB 2010 contract, where Bjarne Thelin, chief executive, and Tony Wearn, research director, presented a briefing to the television industry.

Liz McMahon, director, Kantar Media, looks at the future of market research in a digital age…Just how relevant will market research companies become as we move ever more rapidly towards a digital future? Data can be supplied from digital sources more quickly, cost-effectively and flexibly than ever before. If digital platforms appear better placed to… Continue reading How can research adapt and flourish in a digital future?

WPP’s Kantar Group has acquired Red Dot Square Solutions, a provider of interactive virtual reality retail environments. Red Dot Square’s key clients include Safeway, Walgreens, Tesco and Wal-Mart among its key clients, while it has also worked in collaboration with leading global marketers including General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, MillerCoors, Sara Lee and Unilever. Eric Salama,… Continue reading Kantar Group acquires Red Dot Square Solutions

Royal Mail has launched its first commerical advertising and communications channel ‘Matter box’, with free brand representations from a number of international household names.As part of the company’s drive to “deliver innovation in marketing to engage consumers”, Royal Mail plans to deliver the product to over 30,000 UK customers this weekend.Matter box was trialled earlier… Continue reading Royal Mail unveils new commercial advertising channel

Mark Howe, country director UK Sales for Google, presented day three’s Keynote speech at this year’s MRG conference in Lisbon. With Google now 10 years old, he took us through a whistle-stop tour of how Google has evolved over that time. The main focus of his presentation was how search will be more important in… Continue reading MRG Conference 2008:Surviving The Slump With Search

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has appointed Jonathan Mew, former Orange head of marketing, as its first head of mobile.The IAB said that Mew has been enlisted to champion the medium and further educate advertisers and agencies on its potential.The hire comes a month after the IAB officially widened its remit to serve the mobile… Continue reading IAB UK appoints Jonathan Mew as first Head of Mobile

Yesterday saw a cross-industry summit held in London to assess the future of the Joint Industry Committee for Internet Measurement Systems (JICIMS), the company established to create an industry standard planning system.The results of delegate research in advance of the summit and in a breakout session on the day endorsed views expressed by speakers at… Continue reading JICIMS Summit Gives Green Light To Pursue Online Research Currency