Week commencing 14th January 2008
 Video search engine Blinkx has teamed up with 13 independent
content providers to offer an expanded range of programming on its
site. Footage acquired through partnerships with companies such
as Calon TV, Channel X, MoMedia and jeko.tv, will be placed with
contextually relevant advertising, to create shared revenue for
Blinkx. Independent producers have traditionally had only limited
distribution outlets to choose from, with more established content
players enjoying close ties with key broadcasters. However, the
growing proliferation of online video services is creating new outlets
for the independent producers to access to audiences. Blinkx serves
around 50 million unique visitors every month serving up 18 million
hours of video and audio content, including news, documentaries,
music videos and video blogs. Source: Media Week
Channel 4 reduced its 2007 audience share
loss with a 4.4% increase in impacts in December, year-on-year.
However, Five suffered a poor December, down 19.5% in the month,
contributing to a share loss of 11% for the whole of 2007. In December,
C4's share for 16 to 34-year-olds was up 0.6% year on year, compared
to Five, which was down 24.3% and ITV, down 8.3%. Mike Parker, Channel
4's head of strategic sales, said: "Ever since Julian Bellamy
was brought in as head of Channel 4 commissioning management, he
has worked hard with the schedulers, and the programming has just
got stronger. "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and the Big Fat
Quiz did really well for us over Christmas, as did our film programme,"
he added. Channel 4 finished the year down 7.6% overall, whilst
Five finished the year down 11% for all adults and 9.6% for 16 to
34-year-olds. ITV finished the year with a 3.3% share loss overall
on all adults and was down 2.9% on all adults during December. ITV
finished 2007 down 8% on 16 to 34s. Sky managed to surprise broadcast
directors by finishing 2007 with a share loss of only 2.1% on all
adults, despite a conflict with Virgin. Multichannel continued to
expand, especially its younger audiences, finishing the year up
9.6% for 16 to 34-year-olds. Source: Media Week
 Two newspaper groups are pushing ahead with cover price increases
this month, despite a gloomy set of ABCs for most newspapers in
December. Trinity Mirror last week raised the price of the
Sunday Mirror from 90p to 95p and The People from 85p to 90p, despite
declines in December circulation for both - The People dropped 12%
year on year and the Sunday Mirror 0.6% year on year.Sources highlighted
the Financial Times as a title to watch after it raised its cover
price by 20p to £1.50. But the paper's performance beat the
rest of the market in December, with increases of 1% month on month
and 2.6% year on year, to 449,187. The Daily Telegraph and The Herald
lost the sales they gained in November, while The Times dropped
21,633 sales in December. There has been speculation that The Sun
will end its cover price promotion in London, the South East and
Scotland in a bid to recoup sales revenue amid circulation slumps.
Source: Media Week
The Independent is considering a free edition
in a bid to boost circulation and shore up ad revenues, according
to rumours sweeping the media industry. The model could be based
on the successful Manchester Evening News strategy, which involves
free distribution within central Manchester and normal paid-for
newsstand sales in the outlying areas of the city. There is, however,
scepticism over whether the strategy would result in a sufficiently
big increase in circulation to make the economics viable. Shaun
Gregory, the chief executive at mobile media start-up Blyk and a
former Telegraph executive, said he had heard that the Independent
was considering a free edition but he was not aware of specific
plans. "If you can get the model right it would can be beautiful
as you can pick up numbers and get advertisers," Gregory said.
"One of the nationals will go free, it's purely a matter of
time." Source: Media Guardian
The crowded and volatile women's magazine market
is to be joined by a new competitor later this year, with the news
that River Publishing is bringing Shape back after a four-year
absence. The publication, which was originally published by Dennis
and closed in 2004, will return in April and appear on newsstands
11 times a year - priced at £3.10. River has hired Dawn Greiller,
publisher of Health & Fitness, as Shape's new publisher, with
Annabel Meggeson as editor. Managing director of River, Edward Axon,
is quoted as admitting the launch is a bold move, particularly considering
the competitiveness of the women's magazine market. Shape is set
to be repositioned as a top-end self improvement bible, targeting
the successful 30-something woman - much like successful weekly
titles Grazia and relative newcomer Look. Source: NewsLine
 The
prospect of a surprise reverse takeover of GCap Media by
Global Radio has been dismissed, with a source close to GCap claiming
the move would make little sense. In the latest twist to Global's
bid to buy the Classic FM and Capital owner, GCap shareholders reportedly
called on Global to launch a reverse takeover of the media group.
A reverse takeover, a relatively rare event, is a way for a company
to become publicly traded by acquiring a public company and then
installing its own management team and renaming the acquired company.
The combined company then has a single stock exchange listing. One
benefit of such a move to GCap shareholders would be that they retain
a share in both companies. For Global, a stock exchange listing
would boost its ability to raise finance for future acquisitions.
But according to a senior GCap executive, such a move would not
reflect "any understanding of corporate finance". The
source rebuffed suggestions that GCap shareholders had been pushing
for a reverse takeover by Global: "There would be no logic
in trying to keep the [combined] business on the stock exchange.
It doesn't make sense". Key GCap shareholders are believed
to have named the price they would accept and to be on the verge
of sharing the news with Global chairman Charles Allen. However,
GCap does not anticipate Allen will come back with a second offer
until its chief executive, Fru Hazlitt, has made public her plans
for the company next month. Source: Media Week
 JCDecaux is running its first campaign using the Profiler audience planning
tool that was unveiled at its autumn conference. The Profiler tool
establishes the profile of the audience passing each of JCDecaux's
large-format sites, as opposed to taking data in the traditional
manner of assessing who lives in the site's immediate area. The
company has now taken sites in several major cities including London,
Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Birmingham. Source: Media Week
 More
than 1m users have streamed or downloaded over 3.5m BBC programmes
since the launch of BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day. The figures,
which were released today by the BBC, reveal the on-demand internet
TV service was visited by more than 1m users between Tuesday 25
December and Monday 7 January. According to the BBC, users downloaded
or streamed 250,000 programmes each day on average during this period.
The majority of users chose to stream content rather than downloading
it and on average users watched each streamed programme for just
under 25 minutes. The most popular programmes were festive themed
content such as Doctor Who Christmas Special, Extras Christmas Special,
The Catherine Tate Christmas Show and the Christmas Day edition
of EastEnders. However, Top Gear also ranked in the top five. Source:
New Media Age
ITV is to launch its first production designed to be viewed
across mobile devices and the internet, a comedy series starring
Mighty Boosh actor Rich Fulcher. ITV's mobile division has struck
a deal with production company Hub TV to create 50 two-minute episodes
of what the broadcaster dubs a "mobicom". From its launch
on Monday, each episode of The Gym will be made available on ITV
Mobile and then to a wider audience on ITV.com's entertainment channel
a week later. The show, which also stars actress Ingrid Oliver from
Channel 4's Plus One, will run for 10 weeks. Last November, ITV
launched its first made-for-mobile show, Hot Desk, but this is a
celebrity interview show rather than a TV series. Melissa Goodwin,
the head of ITV Mobile, said that the idea behind its first multiplatform
commission was to make a show that could be viewed "anywhere
and any time". Source: Media Guardian
Capital 95.8 has launched a new homepage which makes it
easier for users to find written, audio and video content as well
as adding some additional functionality. The refresh is phase one
of a long-term strategy to redevelop Capital's online offering.
Future changes are intended to further increase levels of user interaction,
and connect Londoners to what's on in London with offers, a London
guide, and exclusive content from Capital 95.8. Situated at the
top of the page is a 'Promotional Megapod', pushing the five big
stories of the day. Extra large images are used to bring the story
to life, with smaller thumbnails used for navigation. The new 'London's
Talking About' feature lets presenters publish incoming texts and
Facebook messages -which otherwise would not be aired - direct onto
the homepage. 'London's Listening To' highlights the five top audio
pieces which could include Capital's exclusive live sessions, special
gig recordings, listen-again celebrity interviews, as well as preview
and playlisted tracks. 'London's Watching' highlights the top five
video pieces which could include footage of Capitalive gigs, Breakfast
Show specials, film premiere footage and news stories, while a new
travel feature pulls in the top five stories from Capital's internal
Travelmatrix system. 'London in Pictures' is a photo scroller which
automatically pulls in a selection of photos from all galleries
created over the previous month, including premiere coverage, studio
celebrity guests, artist sessions and Capitalive gigs. Source: NewsLine
 Cinema
ticket sales in 2007 were the highest recorded in the UK, rising
by 8% from 2006, to £904m. Statistics from the Cinema Advertising
Association also show an increase in admissions last year - up by
19 million, to 175 million. Industry experts are now predicting
greater spend for 2008, with the release of films such as Sex and
the City. Source: Media Week
UK Cinema top ten:
1. I Am Legend
2. P.S I love you
3. Enchanted
4. St. Trinian's
5. The Golden Compass
6. Alvin and The Chipmunks
7. Bee Movie
8. The Kite Runner
9. Balls Of Fury
10. Lust, Caution
Source: Peal and Dean
Edited by Fiona Mansfield and Mark Dix |
