Web Round Up – W/E 14/2/97

Channel 5 may not have hit the air-waves yet, but it has just gone on-line. to find out what to expect of the new channel key in http://www.channel5.co.uk/home.html. A review is available on Newsline Web-Site Of The Week – Channel 5

Another broadcaster who has decided to experiment with the web before taking to the air is Passion 107. Passion 107 has not even been awarded a licence yet, but it is trying to draw as much attention to itself as possible. Passion is one of the contenders for the new local radio licence covering Brighton and Hove, its future plans can be unearthed at http://www.pavilion.co.uk/newave.

The first publishing complaint against a UK Web advert has been lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority. The complaint appeared in the ASA’s December report. It concerned an advert on the Cable Communication’s Association site. The advert stated because cable companies use fibre-optics for telephony their call charges were lower. They also illustrated that the fibre-optics ran directly in to the home. The complainant felt that the advert implied that only cable companies use fibre-optics and ran it in to the home. The latter aspect of the complaint was upheld. The CCA was forced to change the ad. The number of web-sites that are being audited is continuing to grow ABC Agrees On Web Auditing. BPA International now audits two UK web sites; Reed Title Computer Weekly and d.Comm, part of the Economist Group. D.Comm was recorded as having 12,021 users in June last year. Meanwhile, the ABC is reported to have finished its test stage and is currently auditing 4 UK sites.

As more advertisers become interested in advertising on the Net, audit figures for Web sites are going to become increasingly important. Two major sales houses, EMAP EMAP Creates Web Sales House and TSMS TSMS Goes Interactive have recently set up new media sales and marketing houses.

According to a report by Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, UK ad spend on the Internet is set to grow from £4m in 1996 to £266.8m by 2001 Internet Ad Spend Set To Reach £266m.