Week commencing 16th July 2007
 Virgin
1, the cable channel being launched in a bid to challenge Sky
One, will be skewed towards male viewers to fill a gap on Freeview.
The channel will also feature programmes that attract both men and
women and will target a 25 - 54 age range, although the tone will
be youthful and aspirational. Virgin is pinning its hopes on Virgin
1 as a way to attract and retain customers following its loss of
Sky channels, including Sky One, due to its dispute with BSkyB.
Virgin is yet to announce any significant details about content
on the channel but US drama series The Sarah Connor Chronicles,
inspired by the Terminator movie franchise, will be one of the headliners.
Source: Mediaweek
The BBC has announced a total suspension of all competitions. The
announcement came following a meeting of director general Mark Thompson
and the BBC Trust, on the same day that Ofcom announced "systemic
failures" in television premium rate phone-in services. Source:
Mediatel
 The
growing free press market is set for a massive expansion with the
launch of a 500,000 circulation men's magazine. The weekly publication
with the working title of Alpha One will launch as early
as September. Content, aimed at 18 to 35 year old ABC1 men, will
include sport, entertainment, motoring, travel and news and will
be updated at 7am each day on its associated website. The magazine
will be distributed nationally to commuters in London, Birmingham,
Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and West Yorkshire with Thursday
expected to be the distribution day. It is likely that the new title
will compete with paid for weeklies Nuts and Zoo and the free weekly
Sport. Source: Mediaweek
The Independent on Sunday has benefited from its redesign
and introductory price of £1 with a 17% year on year rise
in circulation for June. The latest ABCs reveals that The Sunday
Times was down more than 10% year on year, a further 4% drop
since last month's figures, giving further evidence of price playing
a key role in the purchasing decision. The title is still feeling
the effect of its price rise to £2 last year. The Guardian seems to have lost the advantage of its Berliner format with sales
at 363k looking very similar to its pre-Berliner figures of 361k
in June 2005. In the London freesheet war, theLondonpaper recorded
its highest ever circulation of 496,504 - which is 108k copies more
than the London Lite. Source: Mediaweek
The release of readership figures on the free London papers
has been delayed after the National Readership survey made a late
decision not to publish its first set of figures for the 2 titles.
The figures will now be released on 13th September, when extra data
becomes available. Source: Mediaweek
 CBS
Outdoor has been awarded the four year, £1.2 million contract
to manage advertising on the Stagecoach Metrolink trams in Manchester.
The contract, which was previously managed in-house, relates to
the sites on the Bury to Altrincham and Eccles lines until 2011,
and will include management of all the trams' interior sites, window
advertising and exteriors, as well as some of the 4-sheet poster
sites at the tram stops. JC Decaux currently runs a separate contract
to manage sites at the tram stop platforms. The Metrolink is used
by an estimated 55,000 passengers a day and 20.1 million a year.
The win is an extension of CBS's portfolio of tram operators, which
include Sheffield Supertram, Croydon Tram and Midland Metro. Source:
Mediaweek
JC Decaux has signed a deal with fellow contractor Outdoor
Plus to sell 20 of its portrait Premiere 450 backlights, in the
companies' second such partnership. The deal will see JC Decaux
market and sell the London-based sites, all on key arterial routes
including Western Avenue, Tower Bridge and the M4 slip road approach
to Heathrow. The agreement will expand JC Decaux's Premiere portfolio,
increasing its 7.5x5 metre billboards to 5, and offer what it claims
is a "unique holding of the super-sized portrait billboard".
In February, the company signed a similar deal with Outdoor Plus
to sell its Premiere 500 offer, covering another 20 billboards.
Source: Mediaweek
 Reality
television enthusiasts will be able to be on the outcome of their
favourite shows on a new website, popbet.com, launched by
betting site chickendinner.co.uk in association with the celebrity
gossip site popbitch.com. Popbet will initially concentrate on Big
Brother 8, but will expand to cover The X Factor, I'm a Celebrity…Get
Me Out Of Here, Strictly Come Dancing and other reality TV shows
as they air. The site will offer up-to-the minute market information
and background analysis of contestants and voting patterns, which
punters can use to inform their bets. Popbet editors will monitor
the latest rumours on Popbitch message boards to assess contestants'
form. The site, which will be sponsored by on-line betting exchange
Betfair, will be promoted daily on chickendinner.co.uk and weekly
to Popbitch's 360,000 subscribers. So far this year, Betfair has
hosted wagers of £15m on reality television shows. Reality
television offers one of the biggest gambling markets over the summer,
particularly in years when no major sports tournaments are held.
Source: Mediaweek
Flagging publisher Emap is set to launch
a digital fashion product in the hopes of boosting its ailing consumer
division. The publishing giant's consumer media arm has drafted
in Geoff Campbell, the former executive publishing director of Emap
Australia's men's division, to work on the fashion based online
project. Emap remains tight lipped about the nature of the project,
but it is understood to involve consumer and business to business
aspects and build on its existing fashion portfolio, which includes
weekly women's title Grazia; WGSN, the online research, trend analysis
and news service for the fashion and online industries; and Drapers,
the fashion trade title. The development comes as rival publisher
IPC prepares to launch an online only portal for women, which is
expected to bring together content from titles including Pick Me
Up, Women's Weekly, Now and Woman's Own. This site, which is set
to be launched in the next few weeks, will also provide style and
relationship information and advice. Source: Mediaweek
 Emap,
which announced the sale of its Irish radio stations in a £135m
deal with Communicorp Group, is carrying out a review of it as national
digital radio offering with a view to relaunching stations to generate
more cash. Source: Mediaweek
Radio groups are reporting double-digit growth in revenues for
the summer months, as a new-found faith in radio advertising takes
effect. GCap, Chrysalis, Virgin and GMG said they
anticipated an increase in revenues year on year for June, July
and August. Sales directors say the figures indicate a resurgence
of confidence in radio advertising. Source: Mediaweek
Emap's Kiss Radio is launching a user-generated ad campaign,
called Kiss Life, which will invite listeners to create 30-second
videos to reflect what Kiss means to them. From 23 July, fans will
be asked to upload user-generated content including images, music
and videos via www.totalkiss.com to the Kiss Life site. Source:
Mediaweek
 Movie
box office takings in the UK have
jumped 56% in the past 10 years - partly thanks to a new generation
of older film fans, according to new statistics. The UK Film Council
said takings in the UK at the box office rose from £489 million
in 1997 to £762 million in 2006. But takings in 2006, which
saw the release of movies like The Queen, The Da Vinci Code, and
Casino Royale, were 1% down on 2005. Audiences over the age of 45
doubled in the past decade, from 19 million to 38 million. Source:
Pearl & Dean
UK Box Office Chart
1. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (12A)
2. Shrek The Third (U)
3. Die Hard 4.0 (15)
4. Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (Pg)
5. Ocean's Thirteen (PG)
6. Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (12A)
7. Hostel: Part II (18)
8. Moliere (12A)
9. Naqaab (12A)
10. La Vie En Rose (12A) |
