NEWSLETTER

The Total Media weekly newsletter brought to you this week by the TV Team

PRESS

Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT)'s national and regional papers have reported a 24% fall in operating profits, while nearly 600 jobs have been axed in the six months to 1 April, the company reported today (24 May). A&N Media – which publishes the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, free title Metro and regional titles including the Leicester Mercury – reported a 3% fall in revenues in the six-month period. Adjusted operating profits in the period plummeted by £10m, equal to 24%, as the titles were hit by lower print advertising revenues and the cost of promotional activity across its digital business. But it said this was partially offset by cover-price increases of its newspapers and by cost savings. Overall, headcount at A&N Media was reduced by 593, to 6,280, in the period. It is unclear which roles have been impacted by the reduction in headcount. Across its national titles, underlying circulation revenue rose 4% to £183m, helped by the 5p cover-price rise of the Daily Mail. The company said that Mail Online – the market-leading national newspaper website – continues to perform strongly. (Source: mediaweek.co.uk) 

The London Evening Standard and other printed newspapers have a "healthy life" ahead of them, according to Jon O'Donnell, commercial director at the London title, which this year is expected to turn in a profit after years of heavy losses.  O'Donnell was speaking at the Media360 event, touching on a number of issues pertinent to newspapers, such as pricing, and what the next generation of newspaper brands will look like. Newspapers, like other traditional media, are grappling with an increasingly digital-centred world, and specifically how to make money out of websites, tablets and mobile opportunities. O'Donnell said: "The big question about making money out of digital remains. Tablets are not a straight replacement for newspapers."  While there has been a significant rise in people reading newspapers online and increasingly on tablets, the advertising revenues are still dwarfed by that of ad revenues from printed newspapers.  O'Donnell, in his presentation, mapped out a future for newspaper, in which they would be consumed on a number of different platforms. However, he said that in the near future, printed newspapers would remain at the core.  He said: "The printed version has a healthy life ahead of it. The digital world is immense. But people still like the tangible asset of a newspaper. They like to tear them and dispose of them". (Source: mediaweek.co.uk)

TELEVISION

Bet365, the online betting company, has signed a significant six-figure deal to sponsor ITV's coverage of the 2012 French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros. The deal will include sponsorship of all ITV coverage from the tournament across ITV1 and ITV4. ITV's coverage starts on Sunday (27 May). Key matches, including the men's and ladies' singles finals, will be broadcast on ITV1 live, while daily extended live coverage of the 15-day tournament will be shown on sister channel ITV4. It is the first time ITV has broadcast live tennis and its coverage of the tournament will be fronted by John Inverdale, with help from former players Amelie Mauresmo, Mark Petchey, Fabrice Santoro and Sam Smith. (Source: Brand Republic)

DIGITAL

Trinity Mirror's national newspaper website network bounced back from two tough months of viewing declines to record a double digit percentage increase in browsers in April, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures. While rival national newspaper publishers managed just low single digit percentage increases in browsers in April – and several even shed web users – Mirror Group Digital managed a 13% increase in daily unique browsers to 660,000. MGD, which includes websites such as 3am.co.uk andMirrorFootball.co.uk, also reported a 10.9% rise in average monthly unique browsers to 13,682,364 in April, compared with the previous month. The bounce back follows a tough two months for MGN – which saw a 30% drop in monthly browsers following a relaunch in February and another significant decline last month – but it was not enough to restore it to the position of fifth largest national newspaper website, which it relinquished to the Independent in April. The Independent grew average daily unique browser numbers by 8% to 695,992 while monthly browser numbers climbed 3.54% to 15,043,267. It was mixed bag for Mail Online with daily unique browsers rising 4.42% compared to March to 5,653,577. However the UK's biggest national newspaper site moved further away from the landmark 100m mark as monthly unique browser numbers dipped by 0.53% to 90,309,252. Stablemate Metro grew daily unique browsers by 2.32% to 335,390, monthly browser numbers dropped 2.15% to 8,049,098. (source: mediaguardian.co.uk)

RADIO

The Radio Advertising Bureau has launched two new tools aimed at helping advertisers, media agencies and creative agencies get more from the medium. RadioGauge Predict offers an easy way to access the data collected by the RAB's advertising effectiveness intelligence service RadioGauge since its launch in 2008.The data covers over 500 campaigns though to ensure confidentiality it will not reveal results at an individual advertiser level. Created in response to demand from media and creative agencies, RadioGauge Predict will allow them to obtain sector insights and compare the effects of radio alongside other media. LoveRadioAds is intended to provide examples of creativity in radio advertising through an ad library that can be searched by keyword, decade, agency, brand, award and category. It will also include a top 10 ads list, updated weekly by the RAB. (Source: Media Week)

OUTDOOR

TalkSport, the UTV-owned national station, and outdoor media owner Ocean Outdoor have signed a deal to distribute simultaneous live sports bulletins during the summer. Throughout the summer, Ocean Outdoor will show TalkSport-curated sports bulletins on its network of 15 large-format digital screens, so people can keep up to date with what is happening on the pitch, track or field while they are out and about. TalkSport's on-air bulletins will be transformed into text by the TalkSport news team and visualised on Ocean Outdoor's screens, including the new Eastern Motion on the A13 and the Liverpool Media Wall, from Friday (25 May).

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