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| 29/07/2010 | Mail Online stays top as it hits new traffic record in June |
| Mail Online remained the most visited national newspaper website in June for the sixth month in succession as it also increased its lead over its nearest rival.
Figures released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulations reveal that Daily Mail & General Trust’s website drew an average of 2,485,431 daily browsers last month.
The website’s audience increased 3.99 per cent from the 2,390,095 that visited the site on average each day in May.
The website of The Guardian remained in second place as it drew an average of 2,036,449 browsers each day last month, up 1.3 per cent month-on-month.
The Daily Telegraph’s website drew an average of 1,775,765 visitors each day last month, up 3.49 per cent on the average from the previous month.
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| 21/07/2010 | Haymarket to relaunch What Car? later this month |
| Haymarket Consumer Media will later this month relaunch its monthly motoring magazine, What Car?
The September issue of the revamped title will hit newsstands on 29 July carrying an additional 40 pages of editorial.
The new-look magazine is increasing the number of featured car tests and will include a new A-Z feature rating every new car currently on sale in the UK.
According to its publisher, the magazine’s revamp comes after a year of customer research.
Steve Fowler, editor-in-chief said, “Before commencing on this major redesign, we listened to our readers up and down the country and showed many of them redesign pages as we progressed.
“We have made huge investments in the magazine by improving what we do best and what we are famous for.”
The redesign follows the appointment last month of Jim Holder as the magazine’s new editor.
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| 20/07/2010 | Tabloid Owner 'To Buy Channel Five This Week' |
| Daily Express owner Richard Desmond is expected to buy Channel Five on Friday, according to Sky sources.
Sky's City editor Mark Kleinman said Mr Desmond and Channel Five owner RTL are expected to announce the deal on Friday.
"I understand from people close to the channel’s current owner that a deal has been agreed in principle and that Gerhard Zeiler (head of RTL) is likely to tell unsuccessful bidders (including Channel 4) of their fate in the next couple of days," Kleinman wrote in his blog.
Desmond, who also owns OK! magazine, faced competition from the likes of Time Warner, Channel 4 and Big Brother producer Endemol.
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| 20/07/2010 | US court frees Conrad Black on bail |
| The former Telegraph owner Conrad Black is to be released on bail from jail in the US after serving less than three years of his sentence, an appeals court in Chicago ruled yesterday.
The release date for the prisoner, now known as inmate 18330-424, has not yet been announced, after the Illinois appeals court agreed to bail pending the outcome of his appeal.
The Canadian-born Black, a British peer and former media mogul, whose empire included the Daily Telegraph, Jerusalem Post, Canada's National Post and the Chicago Sun-Times, was convicted in 2007 of fraud and obstruction of justice and sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail.
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| 20/07/2010 | Times loses almost 90% of online readership |
| Less than three weeks after the Times paywall went up, data shows a massive decline in web traffic.
The Times has lost almost 90% of its online readership compared to February since making registration mandatory in June, calculations by the Guardian show.
Unregistered users of thetimes.co.uk are now "bounced" to a Times+ membership page where they have to register if they want to view Times content. Data from the web metrics company Experian Hitwise shows that only 25.6% of such users sign up and proceed to a Times web page; based on custom categories (created at the Guardian) that have been used to track the performance of major UK press titles online, visits to the Times site have fallen to 4.16% of UK quality press online traffic, compared with 15% before it made registration compulsory on 15 June
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| 15/07/2010 | New home for hyperlocal sites in company shake-up |
| A group of hyperlocal sites has been brought under regional press publisher Northcliffe Media in a company restructure.
The Local People network of websites has now grown to more than 100, with plans to double that figure over the next year already in the pipeline.
It was previously part of parent company DMGT's consumer digital arm, Associated Northcliffe Digital.
However AND has now been disbanded and its chief executive Richard Titus has left the company, although he wiill continue to work on a consultancy basis.
As a result Local People has now been absorbed into Northcliffe Media while other parts of AND such as Jobsite and the The Digital Property Group will become standalone businesses.
Local People managing director Roland Bryan will now report directly to Michael Pelosi, managing director of Northcliffe Media.
Half of the existing Local People sites are based in the South West, with the rest based around London and the Home Counties.
The group's plans over the next year will see the network continuing to expand into areas currently outside Northcliffe's newspaper footprint.
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| 14/07/2010 | Rupert Murdoch 'should pay £3bn more for Sky' |
| A leading analyst has risked the wrath of Rupert Murdoch after he suggested that News Corporation should pay £3bn more than it has offered to take full control of BSkyB.
Matthew Walker, an analyst at Japanese bank Nomura, on day substantially raised his target price for Sky shares from 700p a share to £10.
Mr Walker's new target price, which values Sky at £17,5bn, could raise a further obstacle to Mr Murdoch's plan to take the broadcaster private in a £12bn deal.
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| 11/07/2010 | Richard Desmond in the running to buy Channel Five |
| Daily Express owner Richard Desmond is among the frontrunners to buy Channel Five, which has been put up for sale by RTL, the pan-European broadcaster.
He is understood to have reached the final round of the auction for Five being run by US investment bank JP Morgan. The billionaire is also the owner of OK! magazine and adult TV channels via his ownership of Portland. In a recent Radio 4 interview, Desmond said he hoped to be involved in media consolidation, but has never confirmed an interest in loss-making Five.
JP Morgan has also received expressions of interest from Big Brother producer Endemol, US companies Warner and NBC, BSkyB and a consortium involving media entrepreneur John de Mol and Greek broadcaster Antenna. ITV and Channel Four are believed to have withdrawn from the bidding.
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| 09/07/2010 | London weekly to close after more than 100 years |
| A weekly newspaper in West London that first started life in the reign of Queen Victoria is to close.
Staff at the Hounslow and Brentford Times were told of the decision by owners Newsquest earlier this week.
However no journalist jobs are expected to be lost as a result of the closure, with Times' staff told they will redeployed across other Newsquest titles in the area.
Neither the paper's editor, Helen Barnes, nor group editor Andrew Parkes has so far responded to requests for a comment or for further information on the announcement.
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| 07/07/2010 | Chris Spratling to depart from Reader's Digest UK |
| Chris Spratling, the chief executive of Reader's Digest UK, is to leave the company three months after engineering a management buyout that saved it from administration.
Spratling, who holds a stake in the business, was a key figure in securing a £13m deal with Jon Moulton's private equity firm Better Capital in April to save the UK operation of the 72-year old title after it was put into administration by its US owner.
He is planning to take time off before seeking a new role in the media industry and said that he was keen to take his career in a "different direction".
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| 22/06/2010 | Archant buys out independent Kent publisher |
| Leading regional press publisher Archant has bought out the independently-owned media company which publishes Kent on Sunday.
Former Trinity Mirror executive Paul Stannard launched KOS Media Publishing in 2002, but sold a minority interest in the company to Archant three years later.
Archant's annual report earlier this year revealed that the Norwich-based publishing group had invested more than half a million pounds in KOS over the past two years.
Today it announced it was taking complete control of the company for an undisclosed sum.
As well as Kent on Sunday, KOS also publishes ten free newspapers in Kent under the 'your' brand including yourashford, yourcanterbury, yourdeal and yoursandwich, and produces internet TV station YourkentTV.
The acquisition sets up a heavyweight clash between Archant and the dominant local publisher in Kent, the family-owned KM Group
It is the second expansionary move by Archant in recent weeks, which has also moved onto Iliffe News and Media's established Cambridge patch with the launch of Cambridge First.
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| 22/06/2010 | Metro Goes On Making Profits |
| Metro, the free paper that distributes 1.3m copies a day in 16 urban centres across Britain, continues to swim against the tide, reports the Financial Times.
According to Steve Auckland, Metro UK’s managing director, the paper made an operating profit even during the worst of the recession in 2009, its seventh successive year of profitability.
Metro boasted the highest volume of Monday to Friday display advertising of all generalist UK newspapers in May. According to Nielsen data, Metro had 114,647 single column centimetres (ccms) of display ads, compared with 94,875ccms at The Sun, 77,616ccms at the Daily Mail (LSE: DMGT), and 106,170ccms at the Daily Telegraph.
That high volume of ads also reflects Metro’s willingness to transform itself for the sake of an advertising campaign, often with a wraparound cover devoted to a new product. Certain sections are sponsored by a brand, and advertisers can even ask the paper’s editorial team to help write advertising content.
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| 21/06/2010 | Express Newspapers plans to start tabloid price war |
| Richard Desmond, the owner of Express Newspapers, has promised to start a price war in the tabloid press market that could cost his rivals hundreds of millions of pounds.
The controversial press baron is planning to reduce the price of his Daily Star title by 50 per cent to 10p in a challenge to his competitors at News International, publishers of The Sun, and Trinity Mirror, which produces the Daily Mirror. The sector is already suffering from reduced advertising revenue and, earlier this month, Trinity Mirror announced cuts of more than 25 per cent of the editorial staff at its roster of national titles. In an interview with The Independent, Mr Desmond said he would start the price war on 1 July, in order to drive up the Star's circulation. "The most cost-effective way for us to get the numbers is to reduce price," he said, adding that he presumed The Sun (currently 20p) and the Mirror (currently 45p) would feel also obliged to cut their cover price.
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| 17/06/2010 | Empire named PPA consumer magazine of the year |
| Monthly film title Empire was named consumer magazine of the year at the PPA awards last night.
Bauer Media, publisher of Empire, collected a second prize at the gala ceremony hosted by the PPA, the magazine trade body, as weekly fashion title Grazia collected the award for editorial campaign of the year.
The consumer media brand of the year prize went to BBC Worldwide title Good Food.
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| 17/06/2010 | UK and US see heaviest newspaper circulation declines |
| UK newspapers have suffered the most dramatic circulation declines of any country outside America since 2007, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
A detailed study published by the OECD paints a bleak picture of the industry.
It found that UK circulation has fallen by 25% between 2007-09, second only to the US, where the decline was 30%. Greece (20%), Italy (18%) and Canada (17%) have also seen significant falls.
The report, The Evolution of News and the Internet, found that 20 out of 30 OECD countries faced declining newspaper circulations.
The study says that newspapers are unlikely to disappear, however.
Although 2009 was the industry's worst on record in OECD countries, the "potential positive effects" of the economic recovery in 2010 are already improving their commercial performance.
The study also found that more than half the population read news online in some OECD countries, including Korea, where 77% do so. Despite that, "the willingness to pay for online news remains low".
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| 15/06/2010 | Times Online shuts down |
| The Times Online website has closed today as parent company News International moves a step closer towards charging people to read the newspaper online.
Registered users can still access the paper's content for free at its new website, thetimes.co.uk, and the new online home of its sister Sunday title, thesundaytimes.co.uk.
It is not known when News International will introduce charging for the two sites, of £1 per day and £2 per week. The new sites were launched last month.
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| 14/06/2010 | News Corp. Aims For Full Ownership Of BSkyB |
| This time it looks like the rumors are reality. News Corp (NSDQ: NWS). wants to buy the 61 percent of BSkyB it doesn’t own but the UK satellite broadcaster turned down an offer that valued it around £12 billion as undervaluing the company, according to The Telegraph. A rumor earlier this year had News Corp. considering an offer worth nearly £13 billion. BSkyB board meeting is expected as early as Wednesday morning.
The situation is complicated by News Corp.‘s existing 39 percent holding. Rupert Murdoch’s son James heads News Corp.‘s interests in the UK, Europe and Asia, serves on its board—and is chairman of BSkyB (NYSE: BSY).
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| 08/06/2010 | Advertising industry optimism sparks concern on costs |
| Industry executives are warning of advertising price inflation as media buyers increase their growth forecasts for the UK market.
Spending on television advertising in particular has made a startling comeback since the start of the year, prompting GroupM, WPP's media-buying division, to boost its growth forecast for the UK advertising market as a whole from flat to growth of 4.2 per cent and a value of £11.8bn in 2010. Although print advertising is expected to fall further this year, television has rebounded from an 11.1 per cent drop last year to a projected 11.6 per cent growth and a value of £3.3bn, according to GroupM.
The data indicate greater confidence among advertisers. However, rising prices for advertising have caught many by surprise.
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| 07/06/2010 | Scarlet magazine closes after distributor goes into admin |
| Three editorial jobs are understood to have been lost through the closure of woman’s lifestyle magazine Scarlet - itself a knock-on from its parent company’s distributor going into administration.
Interactive Publishing announced last week that Scarlet Publishing, the subsidiary which published the monthly magazine, and Trojan Publishing, another subsidiary, would be going into liquidation.
The last issue of Scarlet is understood to have reached newsstands last week.
This followed an announcement from Interactive last month that its magazine distributor, the Magazine Marketing Company, had gone into administration depriving it of more than £700,000 of newsstand revenue.
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| 05/06/2010 | BSkyB buys Living and Bravo from VM |
| British Sky Broadcasting's £160m purchase of seven channels owned by Virgin Media is a good deal for both parties, analysts and bankers said yesterday.
While the satellite broadcaster gains VMTV channels , including Living and Bravo, it also saves about £40m in so-called carriage fees, which it pays VM to have that programming on its platform.
Virgin Media, whose chief executive Neil Berkett has said he wishes to concentrate on the core business of a superfast broadband service, will lose some revenue but in return gets a premium price.
Moreover, according to three analysts and a senior media banker, Virgin Media has secured a big advantage in a contingent part of the deal, which gives it access to 16 of BSkyB's highdefinition (HD) channels.
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| 04/06/2010 | Sky buys Virgin Media TV channels for £160m |
| British Sky Broadcasting’s £160m ($231m) purchase of seven channels owned by Virgin Media is a good deal for both parties, analysts and bankers said on Friday.
While the satellite broadcaster gains VMTV channels, including Living and Bravo, it also saves about £40m in so-called carriage fees, which it pays VM to have that programming on its platform.
A person familiar with BSkyB’s thinking on the subject said the deal would not alter the company’s legal battle against an Ofcom regulatory ruling to make its sports channels available to all prospective customers on a wholesale basis |
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| 01/06/2010 | Evening Standard readership rises 130 per cent |
| The latest figures from the National Readership Survey illustrate the huge growth in readers enjoyed by the Evening Standard since it went free in November.
The Standard distributes some 600,000 free copies a day in London and according to the NRS had an estimated readership of 1.35m a day in the six months to March, an increase of 130 per cent year on year.
The NRS is based on surveys of around 36,000 people over the course of a year, rather than actual circulation, so is only an estimate. Readership estimates are far higher than actual circulation because each newspaper copy is often read by more than one person.
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| 31/05/2010 | GMG's losses increase due to write-downs |
| Carolyn McCall, the outgoing chief executive of Guardian Media Group, said yesterday that company losses had increased significantly because of write-downs on its investments.
McCall, who is set to join EasyJet as its new chief executive in July, told staff in a series of briefings that pre-tax losses in the 12-months to March would be larger that the £90m loss made the previous year.
GMG has been forced to incur costs from the sell-off of its regional newspaper business and write-down investment in its radio stations and business publisher Emap, which it bought in partnership with investment firm Apax.
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| 28/05/2010 | DMGT's regional arm poised to return to profit as it plots 150 app launches |
| Daily Mail & General Trust has said that it expects its regional newspaper business to return to revenue growth in the second half of 2010 for the first time in two years, as the company unveils plans to launch 150 apps in the next 12 months.
DMGT, which has just unveiled Apple iPad apps for the Metro newspaper and property site Primelocation, also said that the freeze on the government's £200m-plus ad spend would not have a major impact on the business.
The DMGT chief executive, Martin Morgan, told journalists and analysts yesterday that public sector ad spend accounted for about 3% of total business to consumer revenues and within that, 7% to 8% of revenues at the Northcliffe Media regional newspaper division. This equates to a total public sector ad spend of about £18m, with about £10m spent on Northcliffe Media titles, according to revenue figures published by DMGT yesterday.
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| 28/05/2010 | Media Square falls into the red |
| Media Square has blamed the global financial downturn on its fall into the red, as the advertising, marketing and design group reported a £21m ($31m) pre-tax loss for the full year.
Roger Parry, chairman, said that the loss was the result of a decline in marketing budgets in the retail and financial service sectors. “The results reflect the challenges of restructuring an already weak business against the backdrop of the credit crunch,” he said.
Marketing budgets have fallen in the UK, where the group draws 75 per cent of its revenue, but have continued to grow in Asian markets where Media Square has a smaller presence through one of its advertising subsidiaries, The Gate. |
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| 27/05/2010 | Ofcom Fines DMGT £225,000 For Closing Teletext |
| Daily Mail (LSE: DMGT) & General Trust has been fined £225,000 by media regulator Ofcom for closing the Teletext TV service.
DMGT, which announced last July that it would shut Teletext’s TV service after 17 years, has been fined for breaking its public service broadcasting licence by shutting the service in December.
The company closed the service, which had operating losses in the year to 4 October 2009 of £4m, 33% more than the year before, despite its licence running until 2014.
“In accepting a licence, the broadcaster takes account of the likely cost of the obligations under the licence, and the value of the benefits associated with the licence, for the duration of the licence period,” said Ofcom.
“In deciding to cease providing key elements of the service in December 2009, Teletext committed a serious breach of the obligations in the public teletext service licence such that the licence was revoked.”
Ofcom, which could have levied a fine of up to £500,000, said it had given “careful consideration to the written and oral representations” of DMGT in deciding the financial penalty
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| 27/05/2010 | DMGT profits increase as trading improves |
| Daily Mail & General Trust recorded an increase in like-for-like operating profit of 20 per cent in the six months to the start of April.
The company, which publishes the Daily Mail along with a string of regional newspapers, reported adjusted operating profit of £144m over the half-year. Adjusted revenue across the group fell by ten per cent year-on-year to £974m in the six months to 4 April.
Martin Morgan, chief executive of DMGT, said results had been ahead of the company’s expectations after business-to-business operations delivered “excellent growth”.
DMGT’s B2B companies increased their overall profit by 11 per cent, the company said. Revenues from the B2B group totalled £380m, a drop of 13 per cent year-on-year.
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| 26/05/2010 | RTL to launch bidding process for UK TV channel Five |
| Europe’s biggest commercial broadcaster RTL Group plans to sell off its British broadcaster Five, the Daily Telegraph reported in its Wednesday edition. Citing unnamed sources the paper said RTL had lined up advisors to prepare a “tender process” for the British TV channel, home to imported TV shows such as Australian soap opera Neighbours and US crime drama CSI.
The paper cited fellow UK broadcasters ITV, Channel 4 and BskyB as possible bidders in the auction, but said US studio Warner Bros and Dutch-based production company Endemol could also be interested in acquiring the channel. Five could not immediately be reached for comment.
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| 26/05/2010 | Nine out of 10 won't pay for online news - survey |
| The debate about newspaper paywalls has intensified after a new survey has found that 90pc of people won't pay for news online.
In the week that Rupert Murdoch's Times and Sunday Times launched their new paywall-protected sites, research has suggested that nine out of ten consumers will refuse to pay the new £1-per-day or £2-per-week fees.
The Digital Entertainment Survey was carried out by media law firm Wiggin which has clients across the digital media spectrum.
Its findings of the survey appear to bear out the findings of the recent failed experiment by Johnston Press which introduced temporary paywalls on three of its local newspaper sites only to find the number of subscribers barely climbing into double figures.
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| 26/05/2010 | Curbs loom over targeted web ads |
| Companies such as Google and Yahoo could face tougher scrutiny in the UK after the Office of Fair Trading said it could step in to regulate targeted advertising on the internet.
The watchdog said that more needed to be done to ensure that consumer rights were not violated when companies collected data on internet users' browsing habits and used these to show them adverts related to their interests.
It is the first hint that the OFT and the Information Commissioner's Office could bring formal regulation to what has previously been a self-governing -sector.
Internet companies are eager to use the data they have on online users to create personalised ads, which could be sold at higher prices. However, there is a growing unease among consumers and regulators at potential misuse of private information online. Facebook was recently forced to revise its privacy controls after consumer criticism and Google is under scrutiny by regulators for privacy blunders .
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| 26/05/2010 | Sunday Times & Times paywall |
| News International yesterday launched new websites for The Times and Sunday Times ahead of the planned introduction of the paywall early next month.
It’s little over nine months since Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, owner of the two papers, served notice on free access and laid out his vision for the next big revolution in journalism.
In the intervening months there has been much debate and argument about the merits, shortcomings and likely outcome of such a plan.
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| 25/05/2010 | BB 11 |
| Big Brother 11 sponsor confirmed
18 May 2010
The wait is over. The television event of the summer, the final series of Big Brother, will be airing on Channel 4 in just over one month's time and Freederm - the experts in skincare for spot prone skin - are proud to announce they are the official sponsor of the show.
Kicking off in June, this years Big Brother will include one of 56 different Freederm idents for each ad break during the course of the reality tv event. With creative provided by Bray Leino, the brands advertising and media buying agency, the idents will vary in length from 5 seconds to 15 seconds.
Freederm are the first ever skincare sponsor in the shows 11 year history and Virginia Melis, Brand Manager, commented: ''We are delighted to be the sponsors of the final series of Big Brother-it's a programme that has changed the way our television landscape has developed over the last 11 years. Both brands have a unique similarity - boosting freedom and confidence and allowing people to be who they really want to be!''.
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| 24/05/2010 | The Magazine Marketing Company goes into administration |
| MCR has been appointed as administrator to the The Magazine Marketing Company (MMC) after it ran into cashflow difficulties that left it unable to pay creditors.
The company was founded in 1988 and was the UK’s largest independent news trade distributor, with more than 135 clients producing 400 magazines including The Oldie, The Spectator and The Wisden Cricketer.
According to Media Week, MMC’s collapse has left hundreds of thousands of magazines impounded in warehouses, prompting concerns that publishers will lose out on advertising revenue.
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| 23/05/2010 | Media play the waiting game over iPad |
| Apple’s international launch of the iPad this week will not be accompanied by a swathe of fresh newspaper and magazine apps, in contrast to its much-hyped launch in the US and in spite of print publishers’ high hopes for the platform.
A mixed response to traditional media companies’ iPad applications in the US is making some publishers more cautious about the much-hyped tablet as it arrives in Europe.
Smaller publishers in particular are waiting to see what consumers want from iPads and how much they are prepared to pay before rushing out their products, unlike their larger and richer American peers, which had apps ready at the launch.
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| 18/05/2010 | Facebook throws lifeline to magazine publishers |
| Facebook has offered a new lifeline to publishers in the US opening the door on a new opportunity for magazine owners in the UK.
The social media giant is to let users buy print magazine subscriptions without leaving the site or even the Facebook news feed.
According to adage.com the system will go live Stateside from July or August and will be operated by Time Inc. subscription seller, Synapse, together with e-commerce solutions company, Alvenda.
Users will be able to expand news feed magazine headlines into full articles, complete with advertising and the option to subscribe without leaving the news feed.
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| 13/05/2010 | Trinity Mirror’s Digital Earnings Dragged Down By Classifieds |
| The Sly Bailey-run news publisher’s digital income, during the 17 weeks to May 2, is down, even compared with 2009’s horrific corresponding period…
From today’s interim management statement: “Group digital revenues for the period on a like for like basis have fallen by eight percent driven by the impact of the wider economy on the more cyclical recruitment and property categories. However, excluding recruitment and property we continue to see growth in other digital revenues across both Regionals and Nationals.”
The publisher has a glut of jobs sites, plus sites for other categories of classifieds, which have been worst hit by the advertising downturn.
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| 12/05/2010 | Johnston Press predicts cuts to rise to £15m in 2010 |
| Regional publishing group Johnston Press said today it expected its year-on-year cost reduction to rise to a total of £15m this year.
The company said it anticipated savings to rise by £5m from a previously advised target of £10m year-on-year cost reduction in 2010 - a reduction in headcount is anticipated.
Johnston Press, which publishes the Yorkshire Evening Post and the Scotsman newspaper, said in an interim management statement that management of costs and cash continued to be key areas of focus for the group as it looked to further reduce costs.
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| 05/05/2010 | Rupert Murdoch hails rise in advertising revenue |
| Rupert Murdoch said there is "every sign" newspaper advertising revenues will continue to rise after reporting a 10pc quarterly increase at News Corporation's British titles
In response to a question from The Daily Telegraph, Mr Murdoch said while "I've got to tell you I'm surprised" about the increase, "at the moment, there's every sign" that this is continuing into the current quarter.
The septuagenarian media mogul said there had been "many weeks when the London Sun has had all-time records", but added that all four of his UK papers – the others being the Times, the Sunday Times and the News of the World – saw increases.
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| 04/05/2010 | Pearson sells IDC stake for $2bn |
| Pearson, the publishing and education group that owns the Financial Times, has sold its stake in financial information group Interactive Data Corporation for about $2bn.
Pearson, which has been looking to sell its 61% stake since January, has sold out of IDC as part of an overall deal valued at $3.4bn. IDC is to be acquired by investment funds managed by Silver Lake and Warburg Pincus in a deal valuing the company at $33.86 per share, a premium of 32.9% over the closing price on 14 January. Pearson said that it expects to make about $2bn before tax from the deal.
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| 30/04/2010 | FT ad revenue growing again |
| Pearson, the publishing group that owns the Financial Times, has reported a 7% increase in revenues in the first quarter, helped by "volatile" but growing ad revenue at its newspaper operation.
Pearson, which owns Penguin books and a share of the Economist and is a major education publisher, said that revenues were up 12% on a constant currency basis to £1.08bn.
FT Publishing, the division that owns the Financial Times, has seen strong demand for subscriptions in print and online and "return to growth" in advertising revenues contribute to a "good first quarter". Like pretty much all media owners, Pearson suffered "sharp declines" in ad revenues in 2009.
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| 30/04/2010 | Stevie Spring: magazines to be 'collectable artefacts' |
| Stevie Spring, chief executive of Future Publishing, said the advance of digital publishing would lead printed magazines to become collectable artefacts rather than sources of valuable information.
Addressing the PPA Conference, in London, Spring said she was upbeat about the future for magazine brands, telling delegates: "The next three years are going to be better that the last three years."
Spring said the changes the magazine sector would have to embrace included accepting that technological developments were feeding changes in consumers “like never before”.
"Darwinism continues, but it's Darwinism on speed," she told delegates. "It’s survival of the fastest…we have to adapt and accept that some things are done much better in digital that in print.”
Spring said part of this change would see print magazines evolve into different types of products.
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| 30/04/2010 | Murdoch's paywalls are to protect print, says Guardian MD |
| Rupert Murdoch's planned introduction of online paywalls across his print titles is a strategy designed to protect print sales, the managing director of Guardian News and Media said yesterday.
Highlighting how GNM lost significantly less than the £87.7m the Times and Sunday Times lost last year, Tim Brooks said he doubted paywalls were about the digital future of Murdoch's papers and more about shoring up dwindling newspaper revenue. GNM made an operating loss of £36.8m in the year to April 2009.
GNM has been a keen advocate of keeping its online news content free whereas News International, Murdoch's UK newspaper business, announced last month that from June readers would be charged £1 for a day's access to the websites of the Times and Sunday Times or £2 for a week's subscription.
Payment will allow access to both websites while a weekly subscription will also give readers access to an e-paper version and other new, as yet unnamed, digital applications.
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| 28/04/2010 | The Firm magazine acquired from Carnyx as part of MBO |
| The Carnyx Group, the parent company of The Drum, has agreed a deal to sell its legal publishing business to a management buyout team headed up by The Firm magazine's editor Steven Raeburn.
He has formed a new business, Red Cloud Publishing, to publish The Firm magazine, its website www.thefirmmagazine.co.uk and produce the Trainee Handbook.
The Carnyx Group, which also publishes The Drum and Urban Realm magazine, will continue to produce the Law Awards of Scotland and the Recommended Law Firm Guide.
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| 21/04/2010 | UBM Buying SharedVue For Web Marketing Tools |
| Acquisition-prone B2B publisher and conference organiser United Business Media (LSE: UBM) says it’s buying SharedVue, a provider of web-based marketing tools, to add to its Everything Channel technology sales division.
No acquisition price is disclosed, but David Levin’s UBM, in the announcement, says “Raleigh, California”-based SharedVue (that’s Raleigh, North Carolina, though SharedVue does have an office in Carlsbad, CA) made $1.1 million in 2009 revenue, after launching in 2007.
SharedVue’s products include its software-as-a-service platform, networked content distributor Syndic8 and marketing content generator Communic8, sold on a subscription basis.
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| 21/04/2010 | Yahoo says online ads are reviving |
| Yahoo reported first-quarter profits well ahead of Wall Street expectations as it reduced its costs and saw a revival in online display advertising.
Revenues of $1.6bn fell 2 per cent shy of its own expectations and, after commissions were paid to advertising partners, the $1.13bn left fell short of analyst forecasts of $1.17bn in net revenues.
Yahoo's profits benefited from a $43m one-time gain from the start of a search advertising deal with Microsoft in February and from the sale of its Zimbra web application service.
Excluding these gains, profits of 15 cents a share were up 77 per cent on a year earlier and ahead of analyst expectations of 9 cents.
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| 20/04/2010 | DMGT vows not to charge for online news |
| Daily Mail & General Trust yesterday entered the debate over charging for online news, telling investors that DMGT will not ask its readers to pay for general news content, but only for mobile access and "niche content".
In direct opposition to the stance taken by Rupert Murdoch, who plans to charge for access to The Times and The Sunday Times from June , Martin Clarke, publisher of Mail Digital, told investors yesterday: "Readers will not pay to consume general news on the web."
In a presentation, Mr Clarke said that while a pay wall might make a little money, DMGT's advertising-based strategy would make a lot. "MailOnline - uniquely among UK newspaper sites - is now big enough to make the advertising model pay," he said.
As readers and advertisers have migrated to the web, the question of how to make money from digital content has become ever more urgent for newspaper publishers.
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| 19/04/2010 | Advertisers now more willing to spend money |
| Confidence has returned to a majority of UK advertisers for the first time since 2007, according to a survey regarded as an indicator for the wider economy as well as the advertising industry.
In the quarterly report for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising by BDO, some 21 per cent of marketing directors surveyed reported they had increased their advertising budget in the first quarter of 2010, compared with 16 per cent who had cut it.
A total of 36 per cent plan to raise their spending in the new financial year, compared with 24 per cent who have again reduced their budgets after the worst advertising recession for decades.
Although the recovery remains modest, the news marks the first uptick in overall confidence recorded by the IPA/BDO bellwether report since the third quarter of 2007.
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| 14/04/2010 | FT.com: Thomson Reuters’ video product Insider to launch on 11 May |
| Thomson Reuters is planning to launch a series of new web products and overhaul its markets division as part of plans to streamline the company and reach growing audiences of younger, web-savvy readers and smaller business customers.
Among the developments:
» An “enterprise platform” offering faster delivery of data to clients and online training and customer service support to smaller customers;
» The launch of online video product Insider on May 11, which it has been testing since last year;
» A new desktop platform, Eikon, to launch in autumn, offering a wider range of data and personalisation features. |
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| 13/04/2010 | BBC wants partner for its magazine business |
| The BBC is seeking a partner organisation to run the magazine business of its commercial operation, BBC Worldwide.
BBC Magazines runs a portfolio of around 30 mainly spin-off titles from popular television shows, including Top Gear and Doctor Who, along with others such as the popular listings magazine, Radio Times.
Following the completion of a review of its operations, BBC magazines told its staff on Friday that it would seek a partnership with another company 2to enable our portfolio of profitable market-leading titles to meet its potential, while still protecting the BBC’s editorial standards and brands".
Reports today in The Times suggest that the corporation could sell off the Radio Times, the UK’s third biggest selling magazine, and licence production of titles such as Top Gear to rival publishers.
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| 10/04/2010 | Management buy-out saves Reader's Digest UK |
| The future of Reader's Digest UK was secured today as management bought the firm out of administration and promised "significant plans" to expand the business.
The 72-year-old British edition of the magazine, which employs 100 people, was snapped up for £13 million in a deal backed by private equity firm Better Capital.
Reader's Digest UK will continue to be published under its well-known name after its buyers agreed a licence arrangement with its US parent firm, Reader's Digest Association (RDA).
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| 31/03/2010 | Johnston Press paywall experiment quietly dropped |
| Regional publisher Johnston Press is quietly dropping its experiment in introducing paywalls to some of its local newspaper websites.
As first revealed by HTFP last November, JP imposed a £5 subscription for anyone wanting to read stories in full on some of its local sites, including the Whitby Gazette in North Yorkshire and the Southern Reporter in Selkirk.
However the paywall at the Gazette has now been dropped with full stories now freely available again to users.
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| 30/03/2010 | DGMT: Ad rise tempered by five month revenue falls |
| Revenue from display advertising at Daily Mail & General Trust’s national newspaper division rose 13 per cent year-on-year in the last three months, the company reported today.
Marking a change in fortune for the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, which like all other newspaper businesses has reported drastic falls in the past 18 months, in the last quarter overall ad revenue at Associated Newspapers rose eight per cent year-on-year.
Publishing a trading update this morning, parent company DMGT reported how ad revenue at AN Digital had also risen three per cent in the last three months.
Underlying circulation revenue fell four per cent but both the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday increased their market share.
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| 30/03/2010 | Archant invests £500k in local press publisher |
| Regional publisher Archant has revealed it has invested more than half a million pounds over the past two years in a local newspaper business in Kent.
KoS Media, publisher of Kent on Sunday, was set up eight years ago by former Adscene, Kent Regional Newspapers and Trinity Mirror Southern executive Paul Stannard.
The company, based in Smeeth, near Ashford, has long been rumoured to have had links with Archant, but Archant has previously refused to comment publicly on this.
However the financial relationship between the two is referenced in Archant's annual report published yesterday, which describes KoS Media as an "associated company."
The report states that during 2009, Archant made a further £300,000 investment in KoS Media (Holdings) Ltd, on top of a £215,000 investment in 2008.
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| 26/03/2010 | Times’ New Pay Site: £1 A Day, £2 A Week, Starting June |
| After months of silence, News Corp.‘s UK wing News International has put some details on its plans to turn Times Online paid-only, in a big flagship announcement. We’ll run it in full because it’s so significant…
The key points…
—£1 a day, £2 for a week’s subscription - a compelling argument to go for a week.
—Coincidence? The £1 cost is the same as the daily print paper.
—Customers get access to both sites. Print subscribers get free web access.
—Premium mobile? “New applications” will also be paid-for. There will also be tablet editions.
—Rebrand? Note, Brooks is calling the new daily site “TheTimes.co.uk”, not “Times Online”.
News International is using the “all for the price of a cup of coffee” comparison. Matching the £1-a-day print price will fuel the fire of those who suspect the aim here is really to drive people back to paper. But the Times is promising plenty of online-native innovation, too.
(From paidContent.co.uk) |
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| 22/03/2010 | New upmarket weekly planned for second city |
| A newspaper circulation war is set to hit Birmingham later this spring with the planned launch of a new upmarket weekly.
Former Trinity Mirror weeklies boss Tony Lennox is teaming up with media entrepreneur Chris Bullivant to launch the Birmingham Press.
The duo believes the Birmingham Post's move towards a niche business readership has left a gap in the market for a more broadly-based title.
The new paper will operate on a part-free, part paid-for model with a free distribution of 25,000 copies, and will contain what Tony describes as "everything you would expect from a traditional weekly paper."
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| 22/03/2010 | NUJ launches revamped The Journalist magazine |
| The National Union of journalist today sent out a relaunched version of its in-house magazine The Journalist.
The changes come as a result of former Times journalist Christine Buckley being voted in for a five-year term as the magazine’s new editor replacing Tim Gopsill, who retired last year after 21 years as editor.
The NUJ has described the revamp as the first major change in design and style of the title since it went from newspaper to magazine 17 years ago. The magazine had a redesign two years ago when it went from ten to six issues a year.
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| 22/03/2010 | Google set to announce China site closure |
| Google could reveal as early as Monday the closure of its Chinese search engine and its plan for the rest of its China operations, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The US internet giant said on January 12 it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine and could pull out of the country unless a solution was found. Since then, Google employees, advertisers and the millions in China who use its services have been waiting to find out how far the company’s retreat from the country will go.
Google could terminate all business activities in China. This would include closing down both its joint venture running Google.cn and its wholly-owned research subsidiary. More than 300 engineers and another 300 local sales staff in Beijing and Guangzhou would lose their jobs.
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| 14/03/2010 | Guardian owner to write down Emap investment 'by up to £200m' |
| Guardian Media Group (GMG), owner of The Guardian and The Observer newspapers, is set to take a significant hit on its investment in publisher Emap, sending it to an annual loss for the second year in a row.
The group is expected to write its investment down by between £100m and £200m in the form of a non-cash impairment because of the difficult market conditions.
GMG is currently in talks with its auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers over its annual impairment review. A source closer to the situation said the exact size of the impairment had not yet been determined but would be settled by its financial year end at the end of the month.
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| 08/03/2010 | Jeremy Hunt: ‘We are proposing a revolution in local media’ |
| Shadow culture minister Jeremy Hunt has promised a revolution in local media by sweeping away competition rules to give publishers like Trinity Mirror cross-media monopolies in the territories they cover.
In an interview for The Independent media section he says: “What we are proposing is a revolution in local media that would get rid of the cross media ownership rules at a local level and that would mean that if you are [Trinity Mirror chief executive] Sly Bailey you can say that I own the Liverpool Echo, I have got Liverpool.com, I’ve got Liverpool FM and I’ve got Liverpool TV, so if you want to reach people in Liverpool there’s no better way. I think that would be a very compelling offer for advertisers.”
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| 08/03/2010 | Archant profits slump by a third in 2009 |
| Regional media publisher Archant recorded a year-on-year fall in operating profit of almost a third last year, the company had said.
In a preliminary statement to shareholders ahead of its AGM in April, Archant reported that operating profit fell 32 per cent to £15.1m last year from the £22.2m it made in 2008.
The company, which publishes newspapers including the Eastern Daily Press and the East Anglian Daily Times, said it also recorded a 19 per cent fall in revenue to £142m last year, down from the £175.1m it generated in 2008.
Archant said the falls came against a background of "challenging economic conditions and advertising revenues declining in all major categories".
Chairman Richard Jewson said a new management team at the company had taken "swift and decisive steps to reduce the cost base and launching a number of new business initiatives".
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| 02/03/2010 | Informa: Revenues And Profits Fall, Digital Now Makes Up 72 Percent Of Publishing Revenues |
| B2B could be approaching calmer waters, and digital may be steering the boat: today Informa, publisher of maritime bible Lloyd’s List, reported a decline in revenues and operating profits as it continues to weather the economy. But digital is figuring strongly: 72 percent of its publishing revenues now come from digital formats. Publishing overall makes up 72 percent of the company’s adjusted operating profit, and 54 percent of its revenues.
For the year ended 31 December 2009, actual revenues were down by 4 percent to £1.2 billion ($1.8 billion), versus £1.3 billion ($1.9 billion) a year ago, while operating profit fell by 11 percent, to £146 million ($217 million) from £165 million ($246 million). Informa also noted that exhibition bookings for period ahead were slightly ahead of their 2009 levels.
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| 01/03/2010 | Louis Vuitton launches online magazine for luxury brands |
| Luxury goods maker, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) has launched Nowness, a new online magazine about luxury brands. The project will blend luxury brands with what LVMH is calling “information reference.”
LVMH says Nowness will feature a simple, minimalist design, with a daily multimedia story, besides articles and information on art, fashion, photography, architecture and design. An international team of writers and editors will handle the content.
Although the online magazine is a brand of LVMH, the website states that the content is editorially independent.
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| 01/03/2010 | Pearson online surge counters print decline |
| Pearson, the owner of the Financial Times, said this morning that its sales rose by 4 per cent last year as internet revenues soared and its educational division performed better than expected.
The strength of the US dollar against sterling also helped to boost revenues, with an impact of about 1.3p on earnings per share of 65.4p. The company has increased its full-year dividend 5 per cent to 35.5p.
Sales of data online soared by 19 per cent at the Financial Times last year, while they fell 8 per cent at the hard copy of the newspaper. Despite circulation declines of 7 per cent of the newspaper in the last half of 2009, adjusted operating profit fell only 4 per cent to £187 million as the company relied less on traditional newspaper sales. Online subscriptions rose by 15 per cent to more than 126,000.
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| 01/03/2010 | Louis Vuitton launches online magazine for luxury brands |
| Luxury goods maker, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) has launched Nowness, a new online magazine about luxury brands. The project will blend luxury brands with what LVMH is calling “information reference.”
LVMH says Nowness will feature a simple, minimalist design, with a daily multimedia story, besides articles and information on art, fashion, photography, architecture and design. An international team of writers and editors will handle the content.
Although the online magazine is a brand of LVMH, the website states that the content is editorially independent.
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| 01/03/2010 | Conde Nast to put its magazines on iPad soon |
| Conde Nast has announced that its magazines, Wired, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour will be available on Apple’s tablet computer iPad by this summer.
The company already has an iPhone version of men's magazine, GQ.
Editorial director Thomas Wallace said the company is experimenting with different prices, types of advertising, and approaches to digitise the magazines, before finalising the format later this year.
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| 25/02/2010 | Former regional editor scoops top magazine award |
| A former regional press editor who went on to edit a group of lifestyle magazines is celebrating a top international award.
Cotswold Life was named best consumer magazine of the year at the Niche Magazine conference in Arizona, USA.
The Archant Life-owned title is edited by Mike Lowe, a former editor of the Bristol Evening Post, Derby Telegraph and The Citizen, Gloucester
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| 19/02/2010 | Publisher given backing for Friends Reunited buyout |
| A Scottish newspaper publisher has received provisional approval to complete its buyout of the Friends Reunited website.
Last August DC Thomson announced that its digital arm Brightsolid had bought one of the original social networking websites for £25m from ITV.
But in November the buyout was referred to the Competition Commission over fears the company would dominate the UK online genealogy market.
Brightsolid already owns Find My Past and the purchase of Friends Reunited included its spin-off site Genes Reunited.
The two sites, along with market leader Ancestry.co.uk, make up the top three services in this particular online field.
After conducting an investigation, the Competition Commission concluded that any merger between these companies would not result in a "substantial lessening of competition".
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| 17/02/2010 | Eurostar to launch magazine for good PR |
| Eurostar has announced it will launch a monthly magazine in May. The high-speed rail service is reportedly launching it to restore its image, build customer loyalty and popularise its environmental concerns.
The first issue of the magazine, to be produced by Ink Publishing, will be distributed on all the Eurostar trains.
The yet-to-be-named magazine will be published in three languages and include lifestyle and travel features about destinations across the rail network. It will also highlight the products on sale in the Eurostar trains.
Eurostar wants the magazine to focus on the its 'Tread Lightly' campaign that aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 35 per cent per passenger by 2012.
The magazine is expected to have a substantial readership through its passengers. Eurostar reported that it transported 9.2 million passengers in 2009.
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| 17/02/2010 | UK dailies witness double digit decline in sales |
| UK dailies including The Guardian and The Times have experienced double digit declines in sales figures, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
The Times sales plummeted by 17.69 per cent to 508,250 copies in January.
The Guardian experienced a 15.76 per cent decline in circulation. However the newspaper managed to keep the figure above 300,000.
Sales of the Daily Telegraph plummeted by 11.76 per cent. For the first time, the daily's sales fell below 700,000. The paper's decision to abandon bulk distribution is understood to be one of the reasons for the sales decline.
Overall, circulation for 11 UK national dailies fell by 7.9 per cent and circulation for 11 Sunday newspapers fell by 6 per cent.
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| 10/02/2010 | Daily Mail hints at New Year revenue recovery |
| Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) signalled a pick up in advertising revenue at its UK newspapers and online sites in January but said that it remained cautious about the outlook for the year as it reported overall revenues declines for the final quarter of 2009.
The media group's flagship business, Associated Newspaper, suffered falls in circulation and advertising revenue in the final three months of last year but the company hinted that the tide may have recently turned.
Trading in January had shown "a marked improvement on last year", the company said, with increases in advertising revenue in newspapers and online sites compared with the same month in 2009.
It cautioned, however, that visibility on future advertising revenues was very limited.
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| 09/02/2010 | Manchester Evening News sold to Trinity Mirror |
| The Guardian Media Group has today agreed to sell its regional arm GMG Regional Media to Trinity Mirror for £44.8m.
The deal, announced this morning, will make Trinity the dominant media player in the North-West of England and ends the century-old link between The Guardian and the regional press from which it sprang.
The sale includes both GMG Regional Media's subsidiaries, MEN Media which publishes the Manchester Evening News and 21 weekly titles in the North-West, and Surrey and Berkshire Media, which publishes ten titles in the South-East including the Reading Post.
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| 06/02/2010 | Publicis chief's expected successor resigns |
| David Kenny, the expected successor to Maurice Lévy as chairman and chief executive of Publicis, resigned yesterday, delaying Mr Lévy's retirement and throwing doubt over the future leadership of the world's third-largest advertising group.
Mr Kenny, an American who led Vivaki, Publicis's fast-growing digital advertising business, will leave at the end of the month, having resisted pressure to relocate to the group's French headquarters.
In a memo to Publicis colleagues, Mr Kenny said he had been discussing "the next level of responsibility" but a move to Paris would be "impossible for my family for very personal reasons".
Mr Lévy, who is 68 and only the second chief executive Publicis has known in its 84-year history, had been due to retire at the end of 2011. However, the supervisory board, led by Elisabeth Badinter, daughter of Publicis founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, asked him to stay for an indefinite period.
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| 05/02/2010 | Axel Springer Adds Paywalls To Two Major Newspaper Sites |
| More European newspapers are joining the paid content club: Axel Springer has put up online paywalls for two of its German newspapers, the Berliner Morgenpost and the Hamburger Abendblatt. This follows reports of French paper Le Figaro readying a paywall this month, and ahead of a planned paywall from Times Online, expected this spring. |
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| 01/02/2010 | Reversing the trend, Meredith and Hearst food sites go web-to-print |
| The typical publishing story these days involves a print mag being shuttered to go web-only. But Meredith and Hearst are taking a little break from that trend to publish print versions of two of their web properties, Mediaweek reports. These steps come as Condé Nast said last week that it would try to figure out ways to resurrect defunct print titles like Gourmet and Domino by possibly licensing the brands for consumer products.
Although the print ad environment is still parlous, 2010 is looking a little less bad than 2009. And reduced bad news appears to be enough for mag publishers to take some chances. |
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| 31/01/2010 | Crozier could earn up to £16m at ITV |
| Adam Crozier, ITV’s new chief executive, could earn up to £16m over the next five years – less than his predecessor and other would-be candidates for the job.
Mr Crozier will be on a basic salary of about £800,000, with an additional 150 per cent of that every year in short-term targets, which are offered to executive board members.
Although the details of his contract are still being finalised, a long-term incentive plan could see the outgoing Royal Mail chief executive receive a further £5m to £6m if ITV performs better than its peers.
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| 28/01/2010 | Daily Sport publisher in profit despite circulation slide |
| Sport Media Group, publisher of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport, said today that while the business ended the year in profit, daily circulation of its tabloids had decreased since peaking in August.
SMG, which was bailed out in April by its former owner David Sullivan – who completed his takeover of football club West Ham with David Gold this month – said that trading in the five months to the end of December "continued to be encouraging".
"Although daily circulation of the newspaper failed to hold the peak levels of August, they remained above budget and the group traded profitably for the period," the company said in a trading update. "The board is confident that 2010 will see profitability recover further."
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| 27/01/2010 | London Weekly announces launch date |
| The London Weekly, a free newspaper that hopes to capitalise on the closure of the capital's two afternoon freesheets last year, will hit the streets on 5 February, executives at the title have said.
Global Publishing Group, the company behind the title, will distribute 250,000 copies of the London Weekly every Friday and Saturday, and it has also laid out ambitious plans to expand to other UK cities.
A website, thelondonweekly.co.uk, went live on 20 December, after MediaGuardian.co.uk revealed that Global Publishing was planning a freesheet launch.
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| 26/01/2010 | Britain exits recession |
| It’s official - Britain has exited recession, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The economy grew by 0.1% in the final quarter of 2009, due primarily to increased output in distribution, hotels and restaurants and government and other services.
Both service industry output and production industry output rose by 0.1%.
But David Kern, chief economist at the BCC, describes the figures as disappointing and well below most analysts’ expectations.
“The main aim now must be to ensure that the modest recovery consolidates and slowly gathers momentum. It is critical for both the government and the Monetary Policy Committee to pursue policies that make it possible for business to invest and export. Regulatory burdens must be removed wherever possible, and access to finance improved. A double-dip recession must be avoided at all costs.”
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| 25/01/2010 | Mirror.co.uk Follows News Int. In Blocking NewsNow |
| It was The Sun’s publisher wot done it first, but now Mirror.co.uk’s followed suit, blocking news aggregator NewsNow from crawling its news site, we have discovered and confirmed. The change was made on Monday and makes NewsNow the only site blocked from crawling a Mirror.co.uk that’s increasingly emboldened against gatekeepers like search engines and aggregators.
News International, as we revealed, recently blocked the service from indexing its papers’ articles, effectively having the same effect as the Newspaper Licensing Agency’s new license that’s required by aggregators which copy news stories in order to provide paid monitoring services.
NewsNow itself has been voluntarily switching on and off crawling of a handful of sites over the last couple of months, as a debate grows over the propriety of the link economy. We understand that switching off its spider has had a small negative impact on some of the sites’ traffic.
“We’re not big fans of their business model,” Mirror.co.uk digital director Matt Kelly told paidContent:UK.
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| 23/01/2010 | Google’s founders to give up control |
| Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page disclosed on Friday that they plan to give up their majority control of the internet group over the next five years.
Their planned stock sales, revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, will mark a highly symbolic end to their formal control over the company they founded in their Stanford University dorm room 11 years ago.
However, for all practical purposes they will still be in a position to call the shots at Google on important matters, since they will still speak for 48 per cent of the voting rights at the company between them.
Under the arrangements announced on Friday, Mr Brin and Mr Page, both 36, will each realise multi-billion dollar profits from their Google stakes.
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| 19/01/2010 | Conde Nast Traveller to launch in India |
| Magazine publisher Conde Nast has revealed it plans to launch a new edition of it’s luxury travel magazine Conde Nast in India.
The first issue of Conde Nast Traveller India will hit newsstands in October this year.
It will be the sixth international edition of the magazine. It will be published bi-monthly and aimed at affluent Indian readers interested in luxury travel experiences.
The decision follows the successful launch of Vogue and GQ in India.
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| 18/12/2009 | Alexander Lebedev back in talks to buy the Independent |
| Alexander Lebedev, the Russian owner of the London Evening Standard, is understood to have restarted talks to buy the Independent and Independent on Sunday.
One source with knowledge of the negotiations said the talks were serious this time and that "there is confidence a deal can be done soonish".
Lebedev, who bought a 75.1% stake in the Evening Standard from owner Daily Mail & General Trust in January, has repeatedly been linked with a takeover of the Independent titles since then.
However, it is understood that the on-off talks have gathered momentum again now following the completion of financial restructuring at the Independent's owner, Independent News & Media, and the settlement of the boardroom battle there between shareholder Denis O'Brien and Gavin O'Reilly, the chief executive.
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| 17/12/2009 | GMG talks with Trinity Mirror on regional arm |
| Guardian Media Group, publisher of The Guardian and The Observer, has held talks over a sale of its GMG Regional Media Division, which includes the Manchester Evening News, to rival Trinity Mirror.
The group has undertaken a strategic review following sharp losses and is considering a sale of its regional business in order to secure the future of its flagship title, The Guardian. The sale could raise up to £40m.
The company said in a statement: ”In line with its remit, GMG keeps its portfolio under review on an ongoing basis. There have been some exploratory talks regarding our regional media business.
“However, these are at a very early stage and it is not clear whether they will progress or what the outcome is likely to be.”
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| 02/12/2009 | Google allows newspapers to limit free visits |
| Google has bowed to pressure from newspaper publishers and agreed to let them limit the number of free news pages users can read per day.
The internet search engine has said that publishers will be able to cap access to their subscription websites to five articles per day, after which they can be redirected to a payment screen.
Its concessions follow claims from some media outlets that Google has profited from its links to online news pages.
Users have found that with Google's "first click free" programme they can gain unrestricted access to subscription sites by going through the search engine every time they wanted to read a story.
Google senior business product manager Josh Cohen said the organisation recognised the "challenges" faced by media outlets that want to charge for their content.
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| 01/12/2009 | IPC launches new magazine – but it's digital only |
| In these troubled times with print media sales on the slide, launching a new magazine is a brave move.
But publishing giants, IPC, may have found the solution with a digital only publication.
The group has launched ‘Better Digital Photography’ as a free online digital magazine, which will be distributed to two million consumers interested in technology and photography.
The new magazine is the first interactive magazine launch from the publisher and is devoted to equipment and technique-focussed photography content.
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| 26/11/2009 | Future’s Profits Nosedive In Mag Turmoil, Online Sales Up 10 Percent |
| Stevie Spring’s magazine publisher Future saw its online ad revenue grow 10 percent to £10.6 million in the year to September 30, as it continued to diversify into online revenue streams despite what it calls “the toughest economic conditions in Future’s history.”
London-listed Future increased the proportion of ad revenue it makes from online from 19 percent last year to 23 percent—but that wasn’t enough to save it from a pre-tax profit fall of 61 percent to £3.7 million.
Revenue fell by 13 percent to £153.1 million and overall ad revenue fell 17 percent to £46.9 million, at constant currencies—but the company points out that ads make up less than a third of total earnings. Given the year the industry’s been through, declines like this are considered good...
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| 25/11/2009 | DMGT: National and regionals divisions stay in black |
| DMGT's national newspapers division Associated Newspapers stayed in profit in 2009 despite the economic downturn returning operating profit down 15 per cent to £62m on turnover down 11 per cent to £876m.
Regional press division Northcliffe also stayed in the black with operating profit down 67 per cent to £20m.
DMGT revealed this morning that it has cut overall headcount by 1,600 over the last year at Associated and regional press division Northcliffe: including the closure of three regional printing plants at Grimsby, Leicester and Bristol. As a result an exceptional restructuring charge of £101m was made.
DMGT said that despite the downturn the Daily Mail produced the second highest profit in its history.
Circulation revenue at Associated dropped £366m on an underlying basis, DMGT said, with the Mail titles deciding to spend less on CD and DVD giveaways and more on "a sustained direct marketing campaign to recruit more long term loyal purchasers".
Advertising revenue in the national newspapers division was down 15 per cent to £350m but digital revenue was up 11 per cent.
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| 17/11/2009 | Media Week to close after nearly 25 years |
| Haymarket Publishing to shut weekly title - with 18 editorial jobs to go - in restructure of marketing and ad titles
Lord Heseltine's Haymarket Publishing is to close Media Week after almost 25 years as part of a restructure of its marketing and advertising trade titles, including Campaign and Marketing, that will see the loss of 18 editorial jobs.
Media Week magazine will close immediately, although it will retain its website and awards portfolio, as part of the restructuring, with around 30% of the 58 editorial roles at risk in Haymarket's Brand Media group.
Today's issue of Media Week, dated 17 November, will be the last. The weekly title, covering media buying agencies and media owners' ad sales houses, launched in 1985 and has been through several changes of ownership. Haymarket acquired Media Week in early summer 2005.
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| 12/11/2009 | Huffington defends online model |
| The simmering debate over charging for content online boiled over on Thursday as the publisher of Europe’s largest newspaper dismissed the business model of a site hailed as the future of news.
Mathias Döpfner, chief executive of Axel Springer, told Arianna Huffington that a Polish newspaper his company set up at the same time as she founded HuffingtonPost.com in 2005 was already making more in profit than the rumoured $6m-$10m her site was seeing in revenue.
His on-stage argument that people would be willing to pay for high-quality reporting was applauded by many in the audience at the Monaco Media Forum, but applause also greeted his opponent’s retort: “You are incredibly convincing and you will be proved incredibly wrong.”
Ms Huffington declined to disclose her revenue or profits but said that online readers would pay only for financial information and “weird porn”. “You are trying to enter into the same river twice. That river has gone,” she told Mr Döpfner
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| 12/11/2009 | Trinity Mirror ad decline eases |
| Trinity Mirror has forecast that ad revenues across its national newspaper division will be down just 5% this month, with total circulation revenues dipping just 1%.
The publisher said that the figures were based on "early indications" and that the performance of its beleaguered regional operation would also be much improved, with a fall in ad revenue of 22% year on year this month. To put this in perspective, Trinity Mirror's regional operation recorded an ad revenue drop of 35% in the first half of this year.
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| 11/11/2009 | Guardian News & Media to make more than 100 new job cuts |
| Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group, Alan Rusbridger, the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, and Tim Brooks, the manager director of GNM, addressed staff today on the outcome of their strategic review of the group's papers.
Mr Rusbridger told staff that “nine out of ten people [editorial staff] will still be here at the end of the review,” but that some cuts were necessary.
While the company is hoping to make most of the cuts through an enhanced voluntary redundancy, compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out. |
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| 02/11/2009 | News International to drop bulk sales |
| News International today confirmed it will stop distributing "bulks", copies sold for a nominal fee to be handed out on airlines and in hotels.
The move will reduce the headline figures published monthly by the Audit Bureau of Circulations for the Times and Sunday Times, but will not affect the Sun or the News of the World as they do not distribute bulks.
News International said it had served notice on partners and wholesalers with which it has supply agreements for bulks.
Because of contract notice periods, the change will begin to take effect in the ABC's January figures, the company said.
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| 27/10/2009 | Free London Lite newspaper facing closure |
| The free evening paper London Lite is facing closure, it was announced today.
Associated Newspapers said it has entered a period of consultation over the future of the newspaper, "which may result in closure".
A consultation will take place with 36 London Lite employees before a final decision is made.
Steve Auckland, managing director, Associated Newspapers Free Division, said: "The latest development in the London afternoon free newspaper space dictates that we look again at the future of London Lite.
"Despite reaching a large audience with an excellent editorial format, we are concerned about the commercial viability in this highly competitive area."
The announcement comes weeks after the Evening Standard, which covers the London area, went free.
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| 27/10/2009 | Publicis claims worst of slump is over |
| PARIS, Oct 27 - Advertising group Publicis said the worst of the economic downturn was over, forecasting a better fourth quarter and a return to growth in the second half of 2010, after posting lower third-quarter sales.
The world’s third-largest advertising group in terms of revenue said third-quarter sales were down 5.3 per cent at €1.047bn ($1.55bn) compared with the same period last year. On an organic basis, revenues declined by 7.4 per cent, compared with an 8.4 per cent fall in the second quarter and a 4.4 per cent drop in the first.
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| 20/10/2009 | Pearson bullish despite revenue slump at Financial Times division |
| Revenue at FT Publishing, the newspaper division that owns the Financial Times, fell 14% year on year in the first nine months of this year as parent company Pearson lifted its 2009 earnings forecast, predicting it had seen off the worst of the recession.
Revenue at FT Publishing fell 8% at a headline level; 14% when stripping out the effects of currency exchange rates.
Pearson said the Financial Times "continued to face a weak market for financial and corporate advertising in the third quarter, but it is benefiting from its long-term strategy of earning premium revenues from users for valued content in print and online".
FT.com now has a paying base of 121,000 subscribers - up 22% on the same period last year.
Overall, FT Group reported headline sales up 10% year on year, but a 3% year-on-year decline at a constant currency exchange rate.
The company indicated that it seemed to have weathered the worst of the recession, improving its financial forecast to put adjusted earnings "at or above" 60p per share.
Marjorie Scardino, the chief executive of Pearson, said the firm had "proved its strength" in the downturn.
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| 12/10/2009 | Marketing spend decline shows signs of easing |
| Cutbacks in marketing may at last be bottoming out, according to a new report that shows the quarter-on-quarter decline in marketing spend was the smallest in more than a year.
The IPA/BDO Bellwether survey, published on Monday, showed that spending on marketing activities by a sample of about 300 companies in the third quarter fell for the eighth quarter in a row, but at the slowest rate in more than a year.
The survey tracks spending on a variety of marketing categories including internet advertising, traditional media advertising, public relations and sponsorship.
Among the companies surveyed, spending on internet advertising rose for the first time since the first half of 2008. PR, sponsorship and events saw the steepest cuts, but traditional media advertising saw the smallest reduction in six quarters.
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| 12/10/2009 | Print spending cut back amid free online news |
| More than a quarter of people have cut back spending on magazines and newspapers in the economic downturn in favour of free online content, a study shows today.
But as more news outlets consider charging for their internet offering, the report shows there is little appetite for subscription services in the immediate future.
Only 11% of consumers said they paid for any online media and of those who did not currently pay, only a further 11% said they may begin any sort of subscription in the next 12 months.
The figures were compiled by YouGov in a survey commissioned by financial firm KPMG and show 28% reduced newspapers and magazine purchases in favour of free online sources since the recession began.
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| 09/10/2009 | Print media 'best for retail advertisers' |
| Local newspapers and the wider print media have received a welcome boost from a new study.
Research commissioned by the Outdoor Advertising Association has shown that print media is the most effective way for retail advertisers to reach potential clients and customers.
The study carried out by Brandscience looked at 400 brand case studies. It showed that for every £1 spent on newspaper and magazine advertising, retailers enjoy a sales increase of £6.23.
By comparison, retail advertisers get a sales boost of £3.57 for every £1 spent on television and outdoor advertising.
The study also showed that retailers' newspaper campaigns were boosted when run in conjunction with outdoor advertising.
The findings are being seen as proof that there is still a key role to play for the local press despite the declining advertising market.
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| 05/10/2009 | Rupert Murdoch's News International launches new model for Times newspapers |
| In an attempt to generate new revenue streams as traditional advertising revenues have declined, the Times+ website will offer members discounts, including free Sky+ HD boxes and 2 for 1 travel on the Heathrow Express.
Membership will be charged at £50 a year but is free of charge to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times.
Times+ has launched with two packs, Culture+ and Travel+. Times+ also gives members free access to one of its specialist packs.
Subscribers to the newspaper can add an additional pack for £25.00, while the non-subscriber price is £50.00.
New packs are expected to be included shortly. These could include Sports+, Property+ or perhaps and business offering.
The move comes ahead of plans to charge for online content, with News International investigating a number of charging models.
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| 02/10/2009 | Evening Standard to become a freesheet |
| The London Evening Standard will transform itself in a free newspaper in ten days time.
Its publishers confirmed this morning that from October 12 it will become one of the first quality newspapers in the world to stop charging readers – ending nearly 200 year tradition of people paying for the title.
The switch will see the paper more than double its daily circulation of around 250,000 to more than 600,000.
Alexander Lebedev, the Russian billionaire who bought the Standard from Daily Mail & General Trust in February, said despite taking it free he would preserve the editorial quality of the paper: "Maintaining its quality journalism is what London deserves."
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| 29/09/2009 | Earnings: DMGT Sees Ad Freefall Slowing |
| Could green shoots of recovery be sprouting for newspaper publishers? In a trading update for the 11 months to August 31, ahead of its full-year results on November 26, DMGT said its regional publisher Northcliffe saw ad revenue fall 31 percent. But the declines are slowing - July and August were down 26 percent and September was better than that, with property revenue improving.
And in Associated, the nationals division, July and August were down by 21 percent, but September by only 16 percent.
The publisher says the drastic declines at its newspapers have been “stabilised” - but due to £150 million worth of savings and the cutting of 1,500 jobs across national and regional titles, 15 percent of the workforce.
Group-wide, revenue fell less, at nine percent year on year. That’s because DMGT nowadays takes more than half its revenue from non-newspaper businesses. Its B2B sales are up two percent.
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| 28/09/2009 | ITV in ‘nightmarish’ situation over new leadership |
| ITV finds itself in a “nightmarish” position of having to find both a chairman and chief executive and must move fast to avoid further damaging speculation, headhunters said on Monday.
Friends of Sir Crispin Davis, the former chief executive of Reed Elsevier, confirmed he had been in talks with the board of ITV about becoming chairman.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Getting the price right for Ball proves tough - Sep-22.ITV sues Scottish franchisee - Sep-22.ITV and Tony Ball close to agreement - Sep-21..Sir Michael Bishop, former chairman of BMI and of Channel 4, is also in the frame and the board “is looking beyond those two names” with help from headhunters Russell Reynolds, a person close to ITV said.
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| 25/09/2009 | AOP appoints new director |
| The Association of Online Publishers has appointed Lee Baker as its new director. Baker has more than 11 years experience in online as well as press, broadcast and direct marketing in UK and European roles. He joins the AOP from Microsoft, where he worked on partnerships with publishers, and before than was at Lycos UK. |
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| 22/09/2009 | Trinity Mirror axes three more weekly papers |
| Trinity Mirror is to closure a further three weekly newspapers, in Wales and the North West, with the loss of 11 jobs.
The last editions of the Wrexham Chronicle, the Mid-Cheshire Chronicle and the Whitchurch Herald will be published next week with the loss of eight editorial and three commercial posts.
The cuts come after Trinity Mirror announced plans to axe 94 posts and shut nine weekly papers in the Midlands in July.
Sara Wilde, managing director of Trinity Mirror Regional North West and Wales, blamed the worsening economic climate for these fresh cuts.
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| 20/09/2009 | Observer saved: But hard times still beckon |
| Observer staff have cautiously welcomed last night's announcement that their title has been saved from the threat of closure.
Axing the Observer, and possibly turning it into a weekly magazine, was one of the options considered as part of a wide-ranging review of costs across Guardian News and Media – which lost £36.8m in its last financial year.
Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger revealed last night that a "new-look" Observer produced by editor John Mulholland has been well received in research – as have new ideas for the Saturday Guardian, and that GNM now remains committed to publishing both titles. But he said there will be further integration between the Guardian and Observer titles – and warned that more job cuts are inevitable.
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| 18/09/2009 | Observer saved: But hard times still beckon |
| Observer staff have cautiously welcomed last night's announcement that their title has been saved from the threat of closure.
Axing the Observer, and possibly turning it into a weekly magazine, was one of the options considered as part of a wide-ranging review of costs across Guardian News and Media – which lost £36.8m in its last financial year.
Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger revealed last night that a "new-look" Observer produced by editor John Mulholland has been well received in research – as have new ideas for the Saturday Guardian, and that GNM now remains committed to publishing both titles. But he said there will be further integration between the Guardian and Observer titles – and warned that more job cuts are inevitable.
An Observer insider said: "People aren’t over the moon because what they have said is we will be producing a new product and we have no idea if our section is going to be part of it.
"The feeling is that we won’t be jumping to celebrate just yet. Across the company it feels like that it will now be hard times for everybody – all the focus isn’t on the Observer any more."
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| 08/09/2009 | Industry Moves: News Int., Blyk, INQ Mobile, FT.com |
| News International: A few months after stepping aside as News International’s digital development director, Mike Anderson is leaving to become a consultant. Anderson used to be MD of The Sun and NOTW, took the digital role in 2007, but took leave of absence earlier this year, after which he returned to head special projects. Via MediaWeek.
—Blyk: The mobile ad company’s business development and strategy head Timo Ahopelto is upping sticks to join a new Finnish startup accelerate, Lifeline Ventures. Via ArcticStartup.
—INQ Mobile: Mobile magazine managing editor Soheb Panja is leaving to join Hutchison Whampoa’ social handset firm INQ Mobile. Panja tells us he will be working on communications and strategy. James Atkinson will replace him.
—FT.com: Senior reporter Jeremy Grant has become editor of a new online section, FT Trading Room, which collects news and analysis on equities and derivatives trading along with an online community including chat room for traders.
(from paidContent:UK) |
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| 07/09/2009 | Ad woes force Guardian to raise cover price |
| The Guardian today raised its cover price to £1 bringing it level with the Independent.
The price rise makes the Guardian and Independent the two most expensive mainstream national newspapers. Only the FT is dearer at £2 per copy.
All of the quality national newspapers have steeply raised their cover prices over the last two years in response to falling advertising revenue. The Times and Telegraph both now cost 90p a day.
The Guardian price rise is likely to impact on sales. The Independent has been losing sales steeply since it raised its cover price to £1 last September.
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| 04/09/2009 | Emap Inform chief exec Simon Middelboe gets the axe |
| Chief executive of Emap's business magazine division, Simon Middelboe, is to leave after more than 25 years with the company - Press Gazette can reveal.
According to sources at Emap an announcement is expected to be made to staff in its Inform division, which publishes titles including Drapers and Construction News, later today about his departure.
Emap have since confirmed Middelboe's departure telling Press Gazette the change is designed to reduce senior management costs within Emap Inform and allow greater investment in products and revenue growth.
Emap chief executive David Gilbertson is understood to be now taking a more direct role in the leadership of the Emap Inform division.
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| 02/09/2009 | Apax and banks move to split Incisive Media |
| Incisive Media, the business-to-business publisher, is splitting into two. Apax Partners, its private equity owner, will keep control of the American Lawyer Media business in the US, while banks will take over the struggling UK arm.
The American Lawyer Media stable of magazines, conferences and websites, which include the New York Law Journal, Law.com, Investment Week and Real Estate Forum, was purchased by Incisive for $630m in August 2007
However, the deal was financed with a separate bank loan from Apax’s initial £208m purchase of Incisive in 2006, and the private equity group will unpick the New York-based company from its UK parent.
Apax has agreed to inject $15m (£9.2m) of fresh equity into American Lawyer Media as part of a debt-for-equity swap deal with Royal Bank of Scotland, cutting its total debt from $450m to $300m.
The deal – the first time during the financial crisis that Apax has injected more equity into a company as part of a debt restructuring – is expected to be completed later this month. Apax declined to comment.
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| 01/09/2009 | Executive jobs filled faster in UK |
| UK executive vacancies are being filled twice as quickly compared to other European countries, according to figures from executive jobs website Experteer.
The research reveals that UK vacancies are being filled 30% faster in 2009, while Italy has witnessed the greatest contraction in the length of time job vacancies remaining open with a six-week reduction in the past 12 months.
Torsten Muth, managing director at Experteer.co.uk, says: “These figures underline the stiff competition executives face in securing top jobs, and the importance of swift judgements in deciding whether to apply for a role. The economic downturn means that many executives are re-entering the jobs market for the first time in decades and need to reassess their methods for finding new work.” |
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| 29/08/2009 | 'Spectator' editor in shock exit |
| The editor of The Spectator, Matthew d'Ancona, considered one of Fleet Street's bright hopes, suddenly exited the magazine yesterday, shocking staff.
Mr d'Ancona, 41, disappeared from the office a fortnight ago with "swine flu", sources said. The former student of medieval confession, who took the post in 2006 when Boris Johnson resigned, did not return calls last night.
A protégé of the publisher Andrew Neil will be installed as the new editor: Fraser Nelson, 36, has been promoted from political editor of the conservative weekly. He will formally seize the helm on 7 September.
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| 25/08/2009 | Yahoo shows will to fight Microsoft |
| Yahoo showed yesterday that it intended to keep fighting Microsoft on multiple fronts, demonstrating an array of improvements in the way it presents search results and other offerings.
The two longtime rivals announced an alliance late last month designed to keep them within sight of Google, the internet search leader that is expanding its reach. But that deal is confined to search, and Yahoo's comments made clear the Microsoft tie-up leaves room for antagonism even there.
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| 25/08/2009 | Observer SOS: MPs urged to help save the paper |
| Former Europe minister Denis MacShane has written to one hundred senior MPs of all parties in a bid to safeguard the future of the Observer amid fears that the newspaper could be closed.
MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham and former president of the NUJ, is urging colleagues to sign a letter addressed to the Scott Trust, which owns the Observer, urging it to keep the paper going.
Guardian Media Group, which publishes the title, admitted that "all options" were under review earlier this month after a Sunday Times report suggested that it was considering closing the 218-year-old newspaper - the world's oldest Sunday paper – as a way of safeguarding the business after it recorded an £89.8m annual losses.
Under the terms of the Scott Trust - GMG is committed to safeguarding the future of the journalism of The Guardian in perpetuity (but not The Observer, which has only been part of the group since 1993).
Carolyn McCall, chief executive of GMG, said despite a £20 million cost savings programme at national newspapers division Guardian News and Media heavy losses would continue this year.
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| 23/08/2009 | Johnston plays down Scotsman sale talk |
| Weekend press reports suggested that the company was in talks with Martin Gilbert, chief executive of investment group Aberdeen Asset Management, Mark Shaw, a property developer, and Ben Thomson, a merchant banker and founder of the Reform Scotland think tank, over a potential sale of its flagship Scottish newspaper.
Johnston, which also owns the Yorkshire Post, issued a profit warning in May, saying that the failure to sell its Irish business meant there was a "strong likelihood" it would breach banking covenants.
At the time of the profit warning, the company confirmed that there was an approach for The Scotsman by one of the big five accountancy firms on behalf of an unnamed party, but said there were no plans to sell any titles.
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| 21/08/2009 | Regional publishers to launch new property site |
| Three local newspaper publishers are teaming up to launch a new property website they hope will be a rival to market leader Rightmove.
Iliffe News and Media, Midland News Association and the Baylis Media Group hope to launch the portal, which is currently under development, early next year.
The three media groups have commissioned an technology provider, Collabera, to build the site, which will be designed to give estate agents a "competitive alternative" to Rightmove.
It will include white label capability to enable other local media publishers to join it at a later date.
David Fordham, chief executive of Iliffe News and Media, said: "This is an exciting development that we genuinely believe will provide our estate agents with a truly competitive local alternative to the likes of Rightmove."
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| 20/08/2009 | News International closes free London title |
| News International, the owner of the Sun and the Times, has announced plans to close thelondonpaper, the free evening newspaper launched three years ago, saying it had “fallen short of expectations”.
James Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp in Europe and Asia said the move was part of a strategy to streamline operations and focus on core titles. ”We have taken a tough decision that reflects our priorities as a business,” he said.
The impending closure is a rare retreat for a publisher known for its willingness to sustain losses to put pressure on competitors. It also illustrates the extent to which the newspaper debate has turned from a fad for freesheets towards charging for content whether in print or online.
Rupert Murdoch has vowed to charge for all the online content of his newspapers and television news channels. Price rises are now one of the few growth strategies available to newspaper publishers.
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| 11/08/2009 | Guardian News & Media drops bulks sale |
| Guardian News & Media is to immediately cease the distribution of "bulks", newspapers that are sold for a small fee to hotels and airlines to give to customers.
The Guardian will drop 12,000 bulks, which according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations usually form 3.9 per cent of its monthly sale, while the Observer will ditch 20,000 bulk copies, 5.1 per cent of headline sales.
Guardian.co.uk said this morning, GNM’s aim was to "abandoned its practice of using bulks to tempt new readers to sample the Guardian and Observer" and to "increase openness in the marketplace".
"To a greater or lesser degree bulk sales are used by newspaper groups to prop up their ABC figure," said Joe Clark, the GNM director and general manager for newspapers. "Yet their credibility in the ad community is low and for those affected by the recent investigation into airline bulks that credibility has been undermined further."
Clark said GNM was abandoning the practice to "present a clearer, more honest picture of our sales performance to advertisers and to reinforce the quality of our product to readers."
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| 10/08/2009 | World's first 'virtual newspaper stand' goes live |
| The company behind the digital editions of many regional newspapers has produced what it claims is the world's first virtual 'newspaper stand.'
PageSuite Limited produces the page-turning software used by Newsquest, Archant, and Trinity Mirror titles to power their digital editions.
Now it has created a new website called mydigitalnewspaper where users will be able to search for all its 5,000 digital newspaper titles.
The company is billing the site, which goes live today, as "the world's first interactive newspaper stand and search engine."
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| 27/07/2009 | Pearson confident despite ‘tough’ conditions |
| Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, said on Monday it was still expecting to return earnings of 57.7p a share or above for the whole of 2009 despite “tough” market conditions, which it said “may stay that way”.
Group sales in the first half of 2009 of £2.4bn were flat compared with 2008 after adjusting for the effects of currency and portfolio changes, which negated headline growth of 22 per cent over the 2008 figure of £1.97bn. But the figure was above the consensus of analysts’ expectations of £2.28bn.
Its important education division was trading ahead of expectations, the company said.
On a statutory basis, pre-tax profits rose 13 per cent to £62m. However, the company pointed out that its earnings are heavily weighted to the second half of the year, which normally contributes 85-90 per cent of earnings
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| 13/07/2009 | BusinessWeek put up for sale |
| McGraw-Hill, the owner of the magazine which was founded in 1929, has hired Evercore Partners, the boutique investment bank, to find a buyer, the news agency reported citing sources close to the situation.
BusinessWeek's advertising revenues have been hit by the recession and increasing competition from the internet.
Ad sales in the second quarter fell 30pc to $43.9m, according to data from the Publishers Information Bureau. This compares with a 22pc drop for the industry.
McGraw-Hill also owns Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency.
Both McGraw-Hill and Evercore declined to comment, Bloomberg said.
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| 07/07/2009 | Deloitte on standby as finance battle continues at The Independent |
| Independent News & Media, publisher of The Independent newspaper, has positioned Deloitte, one of its advisers, as standby administrator in case its debt-restructuring talks collapse.
The move — described as “a statement of the bleeding obvious” — came as talks to restructure Independent News & Media’s debt dragged on without agreement.
Controlled by Sir Anthony O’Reilly since 1973, the publisher is striving to refinance a €200 million bond and has had to extend the payment deadline twice to the end of this month as it tries to settle the debt.
Deloitte is expected to be appointed as examiner — a form of bankruptcy protection under Irish law that is similar to the American Chapter 11 system — if the talks do not end in agreement. Examiners are appointed by a court and review the company’s prospects and consider its viability.
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| 06/07/2009 | Hello Magazine Hires Associated Northcliffe Digital For Online Sales |
| Hellomagazine.com, the site of glossy, Spanish-owned celebrity weekly Hello has hired Associated Northcliffe Digital to sell its ad inventory. DMGT’s online wing, now headed by former BBC exec Richard Titus, will look after all display ads and sponsorship, as Media Week reports.
It extends a close relationship between the two publishers, who chase broadly the same mid-market female audience and share a common enemy in Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell which owns the Daily Express and OK. DMGT’s distribution arm Advantage took over the delivery of Hello in May.
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| 25/06/2009 | Independent rescue proposal hits roadblock |
| Denis O’Brien, Independent News & Media’s (IN&M) second-largest shareholder, has threatened to pull the plug on a rescue refinancing planned by the newspaper group’s board.
As a deadline looms to repay a €200 million (£170 million) bond, Mr O’Brien is understood to have told the board that he cannot support a rescue plan drawn up by Sir Anthony O’Reilly, the group’s former chief executive.
Crippled by debts, the company behind The Independent had wanted to launch a €60 million deeply discounted rights issue to help to pay the bond. Without the backing of Mr O’Brien, who owns a 26 per cent stake, the emergency cash call has no chance of succeeding.
Mr O’Brien believes the plan is not necessarily a long-term solution to IN&M’s debts. On Wednesday night he said: “There is no point putting together a band-aid solution to a problem that requires major surgery. My fundamental concern is that if this is not properly addressed ... the company will be back looking for additional capital in six months.”
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| 25/06/2009 | Ex-regional editor Murray bucks sales trend |
| Former regional editor Murray Morse is continuing to preside over a sales success story in his new role at the Daily Sport according to latest figures.
While the rest of the industry struggles, the revamped Daily Sport has seen its sales rise 9.4pc since Easter while the Sunday Sport is showing an 11.9pc boost.
Editor-in-chief Murray, who took up the role shortly after quitting the editorship of the Cambridge News last year described the figures as “nothing short of fantastic”.
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| 25/06/2009 | Time Inc veteran to expand Bloomberg magazine |
| loomberg is planning a print and online expansion of its magazine operation, after the deep-pocketed data group signed the latest in a series of veteran executives from rival media organisations.
Michael Dukmejian, who was named publisher of Bloomberg Markets magazine on Wednesday, spent 26 years at Time Inc, the Time Warner magazine arm where he published titles such as Fortune and Money and oversaw the CNNMoney.com website.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
In depth: Media - May-06.Boston Globe bidder will work with union - Jun-18.New York Times sounds out bids for Boston Globe - Jun-10.US newspapers eye government support - May-10..His appointment follows the recruitment of senior media industry figures including Norm Pearlstine, the former Time Inc editor in chief, and Andy Lack, the former NBC News president, to help expand the reach of its editorial output beyond the traditional Bloomberg terminal.
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| 24/06/2009 | Gay newspaper to fold |
| Pink Paper, the national newspaper for the gay community, is to stop printing – the latest casualty of the advertising recession.
Its owners, Millivres Prowler Group, will turn the newspaper into an online-only brand. The gay community has been considered a prime target for advertisers keen to tap into high levels of disposable income.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Editorial: Road to Stockholm - Jun-23.Foreign investment rises 11% - Jun-18.Competition chief warns on rescues - Jun-14.Economists see pause in recession - Jun-07.Chancellor in no rush to hail UK recovery - Jun-07.Full responses to economists’ survey - Jun-07..The fortnightly free newspaper, the largest circulation gay title in the UK, will suspend indefinitely its print run of 60,000 copies from the end of this month, focusing on its online platform.
Tris Reid-Smith, Pink Paper editor, told the Financial Times: “This time last year we had a really successful business, but because of the advertising recession we are just having to stop printing.”
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| 23/06/2009 | Rebekah Wade named News International chief exec |
| Sun editor Rebekah Wade has today been confirmed as the new chief executive of News International.
News Corp announced this afternoon that Wade, who has edited Britain's biggest selling daily paper for six years, will be take up her new job in September
She will take over the day-to-day running of News International's five titles - the Sun, News of the World, Times, Sunday Times and thelondonpaper.
Wade will report to News Corp's European chairman and chief executive James Murdoch, who becomes News International executive chairman.
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| 23/06/2009 | Mecom in focus before issue |
| There was brisk business in Mecom , the heavily indebted European newspaper group yesterday. More than 33m shares changed hands after its chairman, Alasdair Locke, declared the purchase of 4m shares.
Mr Locke's buying came just days before investors must decide whether to back Mecom's £132.5m rights issue, traders noted.
Any unwanted shares will end up in the hands of the underwriter, JPMorgan Securities, which will then have to place them in the market. Mecom finished unchanged at 1.5p.
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| 22/06/2009 | Growth at The Economist bucks magazine trend |
| The Economist extended its run of growth in the year to March 31, but warned that it expected lower advertising and sponsorship revenues for the year to come.
The publisher, which is half-owned by the Financial Times, part of Pearson, bucked the trend of steep declines seen by most magazine owners with a 26 per cent increase in operating profit to £56m. Turnover rose 17 per cent to £313m and pre-tax profits were also £56m, up 18 per cent on 2008.
Robert Wilson, who will hand over the chairmanship to Rupert Pennant-Rea at the annual meeting on July 16, attributed the growth in part to a "flight to quality" among advertisers.
Writing in the annual report , however, he added: "We cannot expect to match the record results we have seen this year, while so many of the world's major companies, on which much of our revenue depends, struggle." Pressure on advertising and sponsorship revenues could be significant, he said.
Andrew Rashbass, who succeeded Helen Alexander as chief executive last summer, said the group had reduced costs and expected strength from other areas of its business. "Unlike many media companies, we enter a period of recession the most profitable we have ever been," he said.
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| 15/06/2009 | GMG tells staff it will report operating loss |
| Guardian Media Group has told staff that it is set to make an operating loss in the current financial year when its results are announced in August.
The national newspapers division, Guardian News and Media, is set to make a loss of £35m – staff were told today in a briefing.
The regional newspapers division is expected to make an operating profit of less than £1m, compared with £14.3m, last year - the Guardian reports.
GMG will not make any money from its profitable joint ventures with Apax - Emap and Trader Media Group - staff were today told. The profits from these businesses will instead be “ring-fenced” to pay off debt.
Private equity firm Apax and GMG bought Emap’s B2B division in a joint venture worth £1.3bn in 2007. Last week it was revealed that Apax has since written down the value of the 70 per cent of Emap it bought by £300m.
This prompted Press Gazette’s Media Money blogger Peter Kirwan to conclude that GMG’s “Marx-Engels” publishing model was “under pressure but far from broken”.
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| 07/06/2009 | Danson Set For Digital Marketer TMN Group Reverse Takeover |
| Having completed buy-outs of Press Gazette and the New Statesman magazines this year, entrepreneur Mike Danson has announced a reverse takeover bid for AIM-listed digital direct marketing agency TMN Group. Two statements to the market late on Friday confirm that Danson, who runs Progressive Media and made about £100 million from founding and selling Datamonitor, has reached a conditional agreement to take a 85 percent stake in the company.
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| 03/06/2009 | Reed Business Information bags three AOP awards |
| Reed Business Information was the big winner at last night's Association of Online Publishers awards, taking three prizes including two for Farmers Weekly.
The Farmers Weekly journalists were named best business editorial team, with online editor Julian Gairdner crowned best digital editorial individual.
A third award for Reed was given to its group of job sites, which won best digital ad sales team.
There were double wins for Guardian News and Media, Telegraph Media Group, TSL Education and CBS Interactive, owner of CNET and BNET.
Guardian.co.uk beat the BBC, Channel 4, Sky and the Press Association to take the award for best consumer editorial team for opinion site Comment Is Free.
Telegraph.co.uk was named best consumer digital publisher, while the Financial Times walked away with the award for best mobile site.
The Times Education Supplement won best business website. The consumer website prize went to Bauer Media's FHM.com.
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| 27/05/2009 | PA to produce glossy magazines with Johnston Press |
| The Press Association has agreed a deal to produce a series of local glossy lifestyle magazines for newspaper group Johnston Press.
The agreement covers 15 printed titles to be distributed monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly in various parts of the UK.
Local Johnston Press centres will supply the majority of the editorial content and all advertising while PA will provide editorial content covering topics such as fashion, beauty, health, interiors and food.
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| 07/05/2009 | Murdoch to charge for online news |
| Rupert Murdoch could start charging for the online content of newspapers such as The Times or The Sun within the year, the News Corp chairman said last night, becoming the first non-financial newspaper owner to bet that consumers will pay for what they currently get for free.
The success of News Corp’s Wall Street Journal in charging for its business news had convinced him that “it is possible to charge for content”. News Corp would test the pay model on one of its stronger titles, he said, predicting that digital revenue growth could offset the declines in print newspapers within about two years.
Mr Murdoch declared an end to “the days of precipitous decline”, saying that the worst was over for News Corp, which reported a 47 per cent drop in operating income to $755m (£498m) for the three months to March 31.
“At the very least, we’ve hit a floor and we seem to be getting some bounce off it,” he said, holding to a forecast made in February that adjusted operating profits would end the year 30 per cent down from the $5.13bn recorded the previous year.
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| 06/05/2009 | Murdoch backs papers' recovery |
| Rupert Murdoch has said his UK newspapers may lose money "for a year or three", but will emerge from the recession stronger and with bigger market share.
Mr Murdoch, chairman of News Corp, the ultimate parent of News International, was speaking on the day it emerged that The Times and The Sunday Times between them lost almost £1m a week in the year to the end of June 2008.
Answering questions for Brunswick Review magazine, Mr Murdoch said he had been bearish on the economy but "I never thought it would get this bad". The pre-tax losses for Times Newspapers of £51.3m were 16.7 per cent greater than in 2006-07 and do not take into account the big fall in advertising revenues, which all national newspapers experienced in the third quarter of 2008.
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| 01/05/2009 | Informa asks shareholders for more cash to cut debts |
| Informa, the business-to-business publishing giant, has asked its shareholders for an extra £242m in funding to help it chip away at its debt levels.
The Lloyd's List publisher also announced plans today to move its parent company operations to Switzerland to avoid paying UK corporation tax.
In a trading update, Informa said revenues from its publishing business continued to grow in the first three months of 2009 compared with the same period last year, despite an economic environment that shows no signs of improvement.
Revenue from events was also said to be marginally ahead of the first quarter of 2008.
But Informa said it needed more "headroom" to make sure it stayed within its lending agreements with the banks.
It is now asking shareholders to buy an extra two shares for every five they already own, at a discounted price of 150p each
Two investment banks, Merrill Lynch and RBS Hoare Govett, have agreed to buy any unwanted shares.
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| 01/05/2009 | Pearson revenue tops £1bn despite ad decline |
| Pearson, the financial and educational publisher, unveiled a 1 per cent improvement in revenue for the first quarter of 2009, despite faltering advertising at its flagship title, the Financial Times.
Group revenues were £1 billion in the quarter, and the robust start encouraged the company to repeat its prediction that it would match or beat last year's 57.7p earnings per share result for the full year at constant currencies.
Dame Majorie Scardino, Pearson's long serving chief executive, said ahead of the company's annual meeting: "The economic environment makes us cautious about this year, but we're encouraged by the start we've made."
Pearson said that the Financial Times had been hit by advertising that has "weakened in the quarter" -- reflecting the pressures faced by all media groups. However, advertising accounts for only three per cent of all company revenues.
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| 30/04/2009 | Independent News & Media fails to reach deal with bondholders |
| Independent News & Media, owner of the Independent newspaper, said today that it had failed to reach agreement with bondholders over a €200m (£179m) bond, as it reported a full-year pre-tax loss of €161.4m for 2008.
INM warned that its failure to agree a deal with lenders over the bond, which must be repaid by 18 May, means there is "a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt on the group's and company's ability to continue as a going concern".
The company added that "difficult trading conditions" mean there is a "strong likelihood" that it will breach its banking covenants this year as a result, unless lenders agree a waiver.
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| 28/04/2009 | Sir Anthony O'Reilly seeks buyer for struggling Independent |
| Sir Anthony O'Reilly is actively seeking to sell The Independent newspaper 11 years after taking control of the title.
Independent News & Media is looking for investors who might be willing to buy The Independent outright or to take a controlling stake. A merger with another London daily is also considered an option.
Sir Anthony, Independent News & Media's chief executive, and his son Gavin, who is due to take over from him in May, have conceded that the level of the losses The Independent is now incurring are unsustainable. The Independent, the fourth-ranked upmarket UK daily, and its Sunday sister title are expected to lose more than £10 million this year.
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| 24/04/2009 | Press Gazette saved after Progressive Media buyout |
| Press Gazette, the magazine and news website for journalists, has been saved from possible closure after being acquired by publisher Progressive Media.
Wilmington announced the closure of the title earlier this month and has been consulting with staff over the future of the business.
Yesterday evening, it completed a deal which safeguards the future of Press Gazette.
In a statement, Wilmington said: "On 6 April we announced that we were unable to continue publishing the printed edition of Press Gazette.
"Since that date we have been in consultations with the staff of Press Gazette but we have also had anumber of discussions with other parties with a view to seeing if there was any possibility of securing the ongoing publication of Press Gazette.
"We are therefore pleased to announce that yesterday we completed a transaction with Progressive Media Group for them to acquire Press Gazette.
"They intend to continue the publication of Press Gazette in both printed and electronic formats.
"We have also signed an agreement too collaborate with them on the British Press Awards and a number of other events.
"We would like to thank both our staff and our customers for their support during this challenging period.
"We believe Progressive will provide an excellent environment in which Press Gazette may prosper. We look forward to working with Progessive over the coming years.”
Progressive Media has indicated that it is committed to the long-term future of Press Gazette and that it plans significant investment in the title.
Online news coverage on this site and on Press Gazette's network of blogs will resume today.
The May issue of the magazine will go out as normal – but is expected to be delayed by a few days as a result of the sale process.
Press Gazette will be moving offices this week from Old Street in London to Paddington.
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| 22/04/2009 | New chair for Guardian Media Group |
| The Scott Trust today announced the appointment of Amelia Fawcett as chairman of Guardian Media Group.
She replaces Paul Myners who became a treasury minister and was subsequently embroiled in the row over who approved the pension of Sir Fred Goodwin, former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Mrs Fawcett is chair of financial services firm Pensions First Group LLP and has been an independent member of the GMG board since June 2007.
GMG owns national titles the Guardian and Observer and regional publishers MEN Media and Surrey and Berkshire Media.
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| 15/04/2009 | Mixmag publisher Development Hell buys DontStayIn.com |
| The publishing firm behind music titles Mixmag and The Word has bought the clubbing community social networking site DontStayIn.com, offering a rare sign of growth for the beleaguered magazine industry.
Development Hell, the London-based magazine publisher, did not disclose the value of the deal, but it is understood to be worth less than £1m. All seven DSI staff will be brought in house, bringing Development Hell's employee count up to 30.
DontStayIn has built a loyal following among the dance music and clubbing community since it launched in 2003, and claims an average 1 million unique users each month, with most aged between 18 and 24.
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| 09/04/2009 | Former newspaper exec tries new approach in job hunt |
| A former regional newspaper executive has taken the bull by the horns in his quest to find a new job.
Neville Keithley was a managing director with Archant Scotland until June 2007 after it had been bought out by Johnston Press in January of the same year.
In today's Daily Telegraph he has taken out an advert (below) showcasing his managerial expertise in the hope a company will spot his potential and offer him employment.
His ad says: "My name is Neville Keithley and I am looking for a management role. In June 2007, I was made redundant as a managing director I've been searching for a full time position ever since.
"Having tried the normal routes to market, I have taken the unusual step of approaching The Daily Telegraph to bring myself to the attention of the decision makers in companies who read the Telegraph's business pages.
"By showing initiative and by showing that I'm prepared to approach any challenge in an innovative way, I'm hoping that this will attract like-minded employers."
Now living in Hastings, the 47-year-old told HTFP: "It's just an innovative way of bringing myself to market. Obviously, from my point of view I want to use it to get as much publicity as possible.
"There is a lot of media interest in it. I've been interviewed for BBC South East News today and Radio Sussex is doing an interview with me."
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| 08/04/2009 | Google urges newspapers to use technology |
| Better use of technology can help newspapers find a more profitable business model online, Google’s chief executive told publishers on Tuesday, as he said that trusted brands’ professional reporting would rise above the “sewer” of online content.
The comments by Eric Schmidt mark Google’s latest attempt to reassure news organisations that it can help them online rather than contribute to the collapse of advertising revenues that has precipitated the closure and bankruptcies of several of America’s best-known local papers. A day after The Associated Press announced plans to pursue “legal and legislative remedies” against aggregators that use content from the newspaper consortium’s members without properly rewarding them for it, Google emphasised its ability to drive traffic and advertising to news sites.
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| 31/03/2009 | Print Roundup: The Sun’s Online Gameshow; BBC Kids’ Mags Shut; MEN Cuts Free Copies |
| —The Sun: Having announced the launch of its Sun Talk daily radio broadcasts, News International’s flagship red-top is launching a live, online gameshow produced by Pop Idol maker Fremantle Media. Putting its new £1 million studios (pictured) to good use, Sun Quiz Live will debut this summer and will be a mixture of word, number and logic puzzles. Watching the two-hour, five days-a-week show will be free but viewers will have to pay to take part. Sun Talk goes live on April 20. Via Mediaweek.
—BBC Magazines: The BBC is shutting three of its kids’ magazine due to falling circulations: Tweenies and Balamory, which are outlived by BBC TV shows of the same name, will close due to falling circulation as will standalone girls’ magazine Amy. Staff will be redeployed throughout the BBC Magazines division, which is part of the commercial BBC Worldwide group. Tweenies became a success story after its launch ten years and it 2002 was selling 200,000 copies per issue—but between January and June last year it sold just over 30,000. From Mediaweek.
—Manchester Evening News: The Guardian Media Group-owned Manchester Evening News is pulling back on its free distribution model slightly: from next week there will be 20,000 free copies available in the city centre on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays—a 75 percent reduction on the current level—but the normal 90,000 will be given out on Thursdays and Fridays. The extra copies could come back, depending on advertising revenues, but in the meantime the move will have a big impact on the paper’s circulation which reached a daily average of more than 150,000 in H208. Via Mediaweek.com.
information from paidContent:UK |
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| 30/03/2009 | Online publishers in the UK predict a 16% growth in their |
| Online publishers in the UK predict a 16% growth in their digital revenues in 2009, according to this year's Association of Online Publishers (AOP) census.
The research highlighted optimism among AOP members despite the ongoing recession, with almost two-thirds (63%) of publishers expecting to increase their digital investment in 2009. Just 7% predicted a decrease.
AOP members include Bauer Consumer Media, Hearst Digital and Guardian News & Media.
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| 25/03/2009 | Newsquest launches new monthly pensions magazine |
| Newsquest's specialist media division has launched a new pensions magazine - despite its managing director admitting it is "one of the most challenging times there has ever been to launch a business-to-business magazine".
Pensions Insight will be an A4, subscription-based monthly title, with an introductory price of £99 for 12 issues.
The magazine will be aimed at pension professionals and advisers, with an estimated potential audience of 10,000.
Newsquest claims Pensions Insight is "the first significant new magazine for the UK pensions industry for 13 years".
Some jobs will be created - although the company could not confirm how many - and staff at sister titles including Engaged Investor will contribute. A spokesman said more freelances would also be hired.
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| 24/03/2009 | Over 60% of online businesses confident about the future |
| Nearly two-thirds (64%) of online businesses are confident about the future, despite the bleak economic climate, according to Ebay's Online Business Index.
The Index, which compiled data and survey responses from small and medium-sized online retail firms, found more than three-quarters (78%) plan to expand their business during 2009.
The data also found 54% of companies expect rising sales, while 30% expected sales to remain stable.
Mark Lewis, country managerfor Ebay in the UK, said the group of online businesses are bucking almost every trend in terms of retail performance and confidence.
"The internet is demolishing barriers to trade and is bringing extra cash into the UK economy. It's essential online businesses continue to enjoy the freedom to build on these opportunities."
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| 24/03/2009 | EVERY DAY IS A GOOD NEWS DAY AT THE MAIL |
| Every day is good news day at the Mail
A daily paper in the Midlands is aiming to combat the recession blues by launching a "good news only" page.
The Burton Mail wants to help boost the morale of its readers in the wake of the economic downturn by giving them something to smile about.
Acting editor Andy Parker said: "A lot of our readers have been affected in one way or another by the economic downturn, and some have blamed media negativity for making things even worse.
"The "Good News Only" theme is intended as a gentle reminder that not all is doom and gloom. We’re aiming to remind people that there's still plenty of good news out there and that laughter is an excellent medicine."
The paper has invited readers to tell us their good news stories or simply just send it their favourite jokes.
Said Andy: "I'm delighted to say the response has been very good and our Good News Only page looks like becoming a fixture in the Burton Mail for the foreseeable future."
In common with many other local and regional titles, the Staffordshire-based daily title has also launched a "Looking Locally" campaign aimed at giving vital support to business enterprises both large and small within its circulation area.
"In effect we're doing the same as the newspaper has done for much of the last 110 years - backing Burton and South Derbyshire business to the hilt," said Andy.
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| 24/03/2009 | Evening Standard reinstates Late Night Final |
| The Evening Standard in London has reinstated its Late Night Final edition as 'one of a number of improvements' following the takeover by Alexander Lebedev.
In December, the paper cut its number of editions to two: News Extra, available from mid morning, and West End Final, available from mid afternoon.
Late breaking news continued to be covered in the West End Final – but now the dedicated Late Night Final has been reintroduced.
It is available from 6pm, with an increased print run.
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| 23/03/2009 | Pay freeze at Daily Mail owner Associated Newspapers |
| Associated Newspapers, owner of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, has introduced a one-year pay freeze for all staff.
The pay freeze applies to staff - whether or not they are due a pay review - and came into operation on 1 March, with a formal announcement to employees late last week.
However, staff receiving promotions and ending training periods will still get pay rises.
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| 21/03/2009 | Sir Alan Sugar 'fires' world leaders for Schweppes campaign |
| Sir Alan Sugar "fires" a host of world leaders, including Gordon Brown, over the state of the world economy in a new advertising campaign for Schweppes.
The print campaign will feature a different Hogarth-style political cartoon every fortnight satirising topical issues.
Schweppes, which has a history of capitalising on topical issues with its "lookalikes" campaign featuring Sven Göran-Eriksson and Ulrika Jonsson apparently caught in an illicit liaison, launches the first of the press and outdoor ads this week.
The Apprentice execution features a figure who appears to be Alan Sugar firing the members of the G20 summit of industrialised nations from his boardroom.
The ad, developed by ad agency Mother, runs with the strapline "You're all fired".
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| 20/03/2009 | Online video traffic 'up 41%' |
| Video websites have experienced a 40.7 per cent increase in traffic from UK users over the last 12 months, according to new data.
Furthermore, UK internet traffic to video sites has gone up 37-fold over the past three years, suggests Hitwise Intelligence.
According to the firm, one in every 35 UK internet visits in February this year were to a specialist video website, compared to a figure of one in 50 for the same month in 2008.
Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise UK, said: "Video is now a key component of the online landscape in the UK."
A separate study recently published by comScore suggests the total online video viewing audience in the UK increased by ten per cent during 2008.
It reveals the online video audience totalled 29.6 million unique users aged 15 and over in the 12 months from January 2007. |
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| 20/03/2009 | Guardian ends Reuters ad deal after 13 months |
| Guardian News & Media has ended its ad sales partnership with Reuters by bringing its US ad sales operation in-house as it looks to increase revenue from overseas.
The deal, which was signed in Feb 08, allowed Reuters to sell online ads that target the American audience of Guardian.co.uk. |
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| 19/03/2009 | Tindle buys up four more free newspapers |
| Sir Ray Tindle has continued his group's policy of expansion by acquiring a series of free newspapers in the East Devon area.
The View From group was built up from scratch by Philip Evans after he left Tindle-owned Pulman's Weekly News five years ago.
Now Mr Evans has sold four of his titles covering the towns of Axminster, Seaton, Honiton and Crewkerne to Tindle Newspapers Ltd in a deal that will safeguard 20 jobs.
It is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Sir Ray who bought three South Essex weeklies last year and 27 local London titles from Trinity Mirror in 2007.
The four View from titles, together with Pulman's Weekly News, will be published as a group from their existing offices in Axminster, offering local advertisers a paid-for and free distribution package.
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| 18/03/2009 | Tindle buys up four more free newspapers |
| Sir Ray Tindle has continued his group's policy of expansion by acquiring a series of free newspapers in the East Devon area.
The View From group was built up from scratch by Philip Evans after he left Tindle-owned Pulman's Weekly News five years ago.
Now Mr Evans has sold four of his titles covering the towns of Axminster, Seaton, Honiton and Crewkerne to Tindle Newspapers Ltd in a deal that will safeguard 20 jobs.
It is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Sir Ray who bought three South Essex weeklies last year and 27 local London titles from Trinity Mirror in 2007.
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| 17/03/2009 | 'Free newspapers are in the frontline trenches of this war' |
| Not long ago, freesheets were seen as the nemesis of the paid-for newspaper. Now it seems at least as likely that the free newspaper model will be the first to fail.
Sly Bailey, the chief executive of Trinity Mirror, which publishes more than 100 free titles around the UK, says: "Free newspapers are in the frontline trenches of this war, simply because they only have advertising revenues."
Across Europe, newspaper groups are struggling to cope with advertiser migration to the internet as well as recession. Both represent the most serious threat of their type that the industry has faced in peacetime, Mrs Bailey says.
It is noticeable that companies with the most serious threats to their existence have a strong element of free newspapers in their portfolio. Mecom, the UK-listed publisher with operations in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Scandinavia, has postponed talks with its creditors as it struggles to sell off assets. Last month, Metro International, the world's largest publisher of free papers, announced plans for a rights offer after admitting it had breached its debt covenants and did not have sufficient working capital for the next 12 months.
Metro, which is Swedish-controlled and has daily readership of more than 18m from 81 editions in 22 countries, was looking to raise SKr550m ($65m, £46m, €50m) through its issue to shareholders. But later in February it announced it had received a takeover approach. Metro had already suspended operations of its fully-owned titles in Spain.
In the UK, Trinity Mirror and the rival Johnston Press, which between them publish around 230 freesheets, have both released dismal results in recent months, where the only bright spots were increases in circulation revenue at their paid-for titles.
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| 17/03/2009 | Google to host ads by European news agencies |
| Google is ramping up its efforts to make money from its controversial Google News service by striking deals with eight European news agencies, and launching a contextual ad service to display adverts around their stories.
Google said today it had struck news content hosting deals with news agencies EFE, which services Spain and Latin America; LUSA, across Portugal and Brazil; Switzerland's Keystone; APA in Austria; Poland's PAP; MTI in Hungary; ANA in Greece and Belga in Belgium.
From today the news agencies, which are members of the European Press Agency, will run contextual ads run next to articles that appear on their Google News-hosted sites.
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| 16/03/2009 | Incisive Media asks staff to take a week's unpaid leave |
| Business-to-business magazine group Incisive Media has become the latest publisher to ask all of its staff to take a week's unpaid holiday.
The owner of Computing and Accountancy Age told its 2,000 staff late last week about the plan, which it said would minimise the need for redundancies.
According to the Independent on Sunday, staff will be required to take the week between Christmas and the New Year as unpaid holiday.
The week's pay will be deducted over a 12-month period. The paper estimates that the move could save up to £1m.
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| 13/03/2009 | B2B publisher Euromoney asks staff to take unpaid leave |
| Business-to-business media group Euromoney Institutional Investor has asked staff to take unpaid leave and consider taking additional part-paid leave to reduce the threat of redundancies.
Managing director of the Daily Mail & General Trust-owned company, Richard Ensor, wrote to staff last week stating that those earning over £25,000 would be required to take seven days unpaid leave over the 2009 Christmas period, during which the company intends to close its offices.
The company told staff it would not dock pay over Christmas, but instead would deduct a day's pay for each month from June to December.
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| 13/03/2009 | O'Reilly to step down as Independent chief |
| The Independent News and Media chief executive Anthony O'Reilly is standing down, it was announced today.
The long-standing chief will retire in May, on his 73rd birthday, the company said.
He will be replaced by his son, Gavin, who has been appointed chief executive designate with immediate effect.
Mr O'Reilly said: "It has been more than three decades since I first became involved with Independent and in that time it has been my pleasure to have worked with a range of highly talented and hugely committed directors and colleagues.
"My appreciation of them is undiminished by time.
"Together, we have expanded this Irish newspaper group and enshrined a fiercely independent editorial policy that is widely respected across the world.
"As the largest shareholder, I will continue to support their legacy and this wonderful group in the furtherance of its strategy."
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| 10/03/2009 | Newspaper publisher goes into administration say reports |
| A Midlands-based newspaper publisher has gone into administration, reports the Birmingham Post.
Redditch firm Observer Standard Newspapers, which publishes 20 weekly newspapers, five magazines and 30 websites, is believed to be looking for a buyer.
The Post reports that staff have been told the company is in administration but they have been given no further details and told to carry on as normal while the search for a buyer continues.
Last November the company cut eight editorial posts following a reduction in advertising revenue
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| 10/03/2009 | Profits down by nearly a third at regional publisher |
| Regional newspaper publisher Archant has seen profits in its newspaper and printing operations fall by nearly 32pc to £16.2m.
The new figures, which were announced today, also showed that turnover from ongoing operations fell from £191.6m for 2007 to £174m for the year ending 31 December 2008.
Operating costs were reduced by 6.4pc while magazine and contract publishing dropped 17.9pc to £5.8m.
In a preliminary statement to shareholders, chairman Richard Jewson identified significant full year declines in recruitment and property advertising revenues in the newspaper business and in property and display advertising in the 'Life' magazines.
This was offset by progress in the development of online activities and revenue as contributors to a decrease in total operating profits to from £30.5m in 2007 to £22.2m.
There was some good news however as online revenues increase by 51.1pc to £3.8m, driven by the further development of jobs24.co.uk and on-line display advertising.
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| 06/03/2009 | Archant saves half a million by trimming 2cm from papers |
| Regional newspaper group Archant has saved £500,000 a year by shaving just 19mm from the size of its papers.
Its titles, which include the Eastern Daily Press and the Ipswich Evening Star, have been reduced from 39.4cm to 37.5cm - and another trim might be on the way.
The group said shortening the paper has cut the group's annual paper bill by five per cent, or £500,000.
Templates had changed, but no content has been lost, and fonts have stayed the same size.
Archant's presses were adjusted and the publisher also bought second-hand presses from The Guardian.
The group added there had been no reaction from the public.
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| 06/03/2009 | Sunday Times Rich List editor to take redundancy after 23 years |
| The editor of the Sunday Times Rich List, Ian Coxon, and the paper's football correspondent, Joe Lovejoy, are expected to be among the departures in the latest round of redundancies at parent company News International.
News of the departure of Coxon, who is also the managing editor of the paper's production operation, is said to have shocked staff. He will leave his full-time post at the end of May, after 23 years on the staff of the Sunday Times.
However, he will continue to be editor of the Sunday Times Rich List in what is thought will be a freelance capacity.
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| 04/03/2009 | Archant announces U-turn on monthly magazines |
| Regional publisher Archant has reversed a decision to move two of its monthly magazines to annual publication.
Plans announced last month would have seen Shropshire Life, Staffordshire County Magazine, Birmingham Life and Herefordshire Life published just once a year.
But following a consultation, the company's magazine publishing arm Archant Life has decided that Herefordshire Life and Shropshire Life will continue to be produced on a monthly basis, along with stablemates Warwickshire Life and Worcestershire Life.
The other two titles, Staffordshire County Magazine and Birmingham Life, will move to what the company is calling a "reduced frequency" of publication although it is not spelled out whether this would be annual.
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| 04/03/2009 | Men's Mag Arena Shelved After 22 Years |
| Publisher Bauer Media, which also publishes FHM, said it had "reluctantly" decided to axe the UK title.
A spokesman said: "Arena is the UK's original men's magazine and for the last 22 years has been the ultimate arbiter of men's style."
The spokesman said that Bauer would not cease its international editions.
The closure does not affect Homme Plus, which is edited by Jo-Ann Furniss.
Consultations are now ongoing with Arena's members of staff.
The company is seeking to find alternative roles for staff across other editions and titles.
The final Arena issue will be the April edition on sale from March 12.Arena has an average of 29,374 readers, compared to FHM's 272,545 and Zoo's 145,555.
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| 03/03/2009 | FT deputy: 'Papers might start considering charging online' |
| Newspapers may have to charge readers for online content as their business model "is not looking healthy", Financial Times deputy editor Martin Dickson has told Press Gazette.
The FT - one of the few papers to charge for some online content – revealed yesterday that its online subscriptions had risen nine per cent year on year to 109,609.
Digital revenues represented 67 per cent of FT Group revenue last year, up from 28 per cent in 2000.
On a smaller level, the only regional newspaper to increase its paid-for circulation in the second half of 2008 – The Irish News in Northern Ireland – is one of the few to charge for online content.
Martin Dickson, the FT’s deputy editor since 2005, said other papers might have to copy their model – though not yet.
“I think at the moment it would be very difficult for a white sheet to charge for content - although I heard a rumour an American paper might do it,” he said.
“The reason is most consumers of news have got used to having it for free. They would baulk at having to pay.
“We can charge, as financial news is somewhat different as it helps people do their jobs, and therefore they’re willing to pay for it.
“As you go forward, the white sheets may be able to start to thinking about charging - the current business model is not looking at all healthy.
“There may come a point where they have to say to readers ‘What we’re producing is valuable, you have to pay for it’. But right now, it would be a hard sell.”
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| 02/03/2009 | FT Group sees profits rise from subscriptions and digital |
| The FT Group has defied the economic downturn with an eight per cent profit rise in 2008, helped by digital and subscriptions revenue growth.
In its end-of-year results, Financial Times parent company Pearson said revenues at FT Group - which includes the newspaper, website and its interactive data division - were up seven per cent on a like-for-like basis to £796m.
Like-for-like operating profits, ignoring fluctuating exchange rates, acquisitions and disposals, rose eight per cent to £195m.
Pearson said advertising revenues at the FT Group – which make up only a quarter of its total revenue – fell three per cent in 2008 as financial institutions and technology companies cut their marketing spend.
Digital revenues represented 67 per cent of FT Group revenues last year, up from 28 per cent in 2000.
FT.com subscribers grew nine per cent year on year to 109,609. Registered users increased more than five-fold in the same period, from 150,000 to 966,000.
Pearson said it expected "a tough year" for the FT Group but it hoped subscription renewal rates would remain high as readers continued to seek "high-quality analysis of global business, finance, politics and economics".
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| 26/02/2009 | Profits fall £40m at Trinity Mirror regionals |
| Trinity Mirror has today unveiled its annual results for 2008 showing a £40m fall in profits at its regional newspapers division.
But the division still turned in an overall profit of £56.3m last year despite the economic downturn.
Today's results showed print revenues at Trinity Mirror regionals were down from £414.3m in 2007 to £358m last year - a drop of £56.3m.
But regional digital revenues were up from £30.4m to £38m, contributing to digital profits across the group as a whole of £7.6m.
The regional figures were part of an overall group-wide drop in profits from £186.1m in 2007 to £145.2m last year.
Overall group revenues fell by almost £100m from £971.3m to £871.7m.
The main contributor to the drop in revenues in the regional division was advertising revenue which was down from £326.7m in 2007 to £282.3m.
By contrast circulation revenue fell by just £3.4m, from £80.5m to £77.1m.
Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey said today: "Trinity Mirror has performed creditably in very difficult trading conditions.
"While advertising revenues were under extreme pressure we delivered full-year results ahead of market forecasts.
"In spite of the downturn, I am a firm believer that careful management of our portfolio of strong print and online brands will enable us to navigate our way through the challenging market conditions as we make the transition to a new lower-cost multi-platform business model.
"With our proven track record of delivering substantial cost savings and driving efficiencies in our businesses, we remain well positioned to manage our way through these uncertain times for the UK economy."
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| 25/02/2009 | Trinity Mirror mobile sites enter new phase |
| Trinity Mirror is set to roll out the second phase of its mobile phone news service.
Thirteen m-sites were launched during the second half of 2008 and now the publisher is set to add user-generated content, a ringtones download centre and wallpapers to its service. Video may also be added in due course.
The m-sites have been promoted through Trinity Mirror's own print and web titles as it seeks to integrate them into its multimedia portfolio.
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| 24/02/2009 | Emap to make all magazines A4 in cost-cutting drive |
| Business-to-business magazine publisher Emap Inform is cutting the size of all of its titles to A4 and changing its print dates in a cost-cutting drive.
The group – which owns weeklies including Retail Week and Nursing Times – has said it will print all of its products on A4 paper, a slight reduction for most.
Titles that will be smaller include Screen, Construction News, and Local Government Chronicle.
It will also print its titles "back to back" on Tuesdays and Fridays to save costs and cut waste.
Currently, titles are printed throughout the week - so publication dates will change for some magazines.
The type of paper will also be standardised across the group, although the company said quality would not be affected.
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| 24/02/2009 | Rupert Murdoch's right-hand man Peter Chernin to leave News Corp |
| Peter Chernin, the president and chief operating officer at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, is to leave the company after 20 years.
Chernin, who has served as Murdoch's right-hand man since the mid-1990s, will step down when his contract expires on 30 June.
Responsibility for running Fox Group, of which Chernin was the chief executive, will be handled by News Corp chairman and chief executive Murdoch.
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| 17/02/2009 | Google UK Ad Boss To Newspapers: We’re Not Stealing Your Advertisers |
| Google’s UK ad sales director Matt Brittin ticks all the interview boxes in this Telegraph.co.uk profile - the biggest tick: his defence against those “Google is killing newspapers” allegations: “It is easy for people in traditional media to look at the internet and say, ‘Oh God, the internet is taking away our readers and advertisers’. But – and I want to be really clear about this – it is not Google (NSDQ: GOOG) that is taking advertisers away. It is consumers changing their behaviour.”
Brittin knows only too well - he joined in 2007 from Trinity Mirror (LSE: TNI), the newspaper publisher facing some of the biggest advertising losses in the online age: “With the recession, the advertising market is collapsing. Everybody is looking at their marketing budgets and switching to more accountable media. (The recession) is different this time. We are a digital economy now. In the UK, 70 percent of households have the internet and they are turning to it to save them money.” That must stick in Trinity’s craw. But Google should heed its own warning - UK revenue fell 11.7 percent between September and December, albeit thanks to UK-US currency fluctuation. |
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| 16/02/2009 | Lord Rothermere: Further DMGT sell-offs are unlikely |
| Lord Rothermere has said it is unlikely that the Daily Mail and General Trust will sell any more titles, following the disposal of the London Evening Standard to a Russian billionaire.
In a rare interview with the Sunday Times, the DMGT chairman also ruled out buying The Independent and the Independent on Sunday, which are due to move into Associated Newspapers' headquarters in west London soon.
Rothermere - who became chair of DMGT after the death of the third Viscount Rothermere in 1998 - said selling the Standard to Alexander Lebedev had been as difficult as coping with the death of his parents.
"I am very emotionally attached to the Standard," Rothermere told the paper.
"Along with the death of my parents, [selling] it has been one of the hardest things to live through in my life."
In 2005, DMGT attempted to dispose of its regional newspaper arm, Northcliffe. But the sale was aborted in February 2006 after the offers failed to reach expectations.
Rothermere told the Sunday Times yesterday that further consolidation in the newspaper industry looked unlikely in the current climate.
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| 16/02/2009 | Reed close to deal on extending loans |
| Reed Elsevier, the publisher that shelved plans to sell its business information division last year amid collapsing valuations, is close to securing a forward-start agreement to extend about $2bn of loan debt by three years.
The deal, which will see Reed pay up to 225 basis points more than the London interbank rate to the banks that have agreed to commit, is expected to close in the next few weeks.
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| 12/02/2009 | Weekly magazines feeling the heat |
| While some titles will show an element of resilience, the majority are expected to suffer steep year-on-year declines in the latest set of ABC magazines figures, released today. Some readers who previously bought two or three titles a week are now thought to be buying just one as they tighten their purse strings.
It is understood that Bauer's Heat will show a year-on-year decline of about 10pc, although it will be up slightly on the previous six-month period. The celebrity weekly market is expected to be down an average of 7pc year-on-year and about 1pc compared with previous six months. Sources said that National Magazines' Reveal could show a year-on-year fall of 15pc-20pc, while Northern & Shell's OK! could see a year-on-year fall of about 20pc on the back of fewer "blockbuster weddings". So-called "real life" weeklies, such as IPC's Pick Me Up, are also expected to be fall, as the value end of the market feels the recession. Women's weeklies such as Woman's Own could show drops of 5pc-7pc.
However, some weekly women's titles which have embraced the credit crunch, such as IPC's Look, are expected to show some resilience. The title has been offering "credit crunch chic" in its fashion pages and a boutique for readers to swap clothes. Bauer's Closer is also expected to do better than most, down about 1.5pc year-on-year and 2.5pc period-on-period.
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| 12/02/2009 | Earnings: Now Even Online Sales Falling At Daily Mail Publisher; More Cuts |
| Have the wheels finally come off newspapers’ big online dream? In the last three months of 2008, DMGT says online sales in its Mail Online publisher Associated Newspapers were down three percent from the previous year. That’s a shocker as we’ve got used to seeing quarter-on-quarter online gains.
The year before, DMGT overall saw a 90 percent uplift in online sales - so, despite confidence online ads will continue to grow while print sales suffer, it seems advertisers put the brakes even on web spend in the last quarter with Associated.
DMGT isn’t panicking—it’s said several times it’s more interested in investing in its B2B assets than newspapers. But the fact remains - digital is not replacing revenue lost to a chronic downturn in newspapers’ fortunes. With even the most optimistic of analysts expecting online to make up only 15 percent of advertising by 2013, would anyone bet on publishers making strong online gains in recession-mired 2009?
—Northcliffe Media: Unlike Associated, the regional division posted a six percent year-on-year gain in digital revenue, but it’s simply not enough to counteract a 27 percent overall ad revenue drop for the quarter. Property ads alone were down 52 percent and in January the group was 40 percent behind January 2008 ad revenue.
—Associated Newspapers: Overall sales were down eight percent to £237 million and profits fell five percent, as advertising revenue of all kinds continues to flee newspapers. Total advertising sales dropped eight percent - print down eight percent and classifieds by 17 percent. The best-performing title was not the 2.2-million selling Daily Mail but London Lite, which grew its print display revenue 21 percent.
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| 11/02/2009 | DMGT commits to London Lite as ad revenues climb 21% |
| London Lite has defied the advertising downturn and reported a 21 per cent increase in display revenue in the last three months of 2008.
In a trading update this morning, the Daily Mail and General Trust said its London free evening paper was the best performing title in the Associated Newspapers stable, which includes the Mail titles, Metro and the London Evening Standard.
DMGT said it remained committed to publishing the title, after it agreed last month to sell a 75.1 per cent stake in its paid-for sister title, the Evening Standard, to Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev.
And it said there were no talks between Associated and News International about calling a truce to the London free newspaper war, which has now been running for two and a half years.
"We remain fully committed to our retained newspaper businesses," DMGT chief executive Martin Morgan said in a conference call with journalists this morning.
"We've made it very clear that we continue to publish London Lite. It's actually doing pretty well."
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| 11/02/2009 | DMGT advertising revenue plummets in January |
| Daily Mail & General Trust saw advertising revenue in January fall by 23% at its national newspaper division and by 40% across its regional titles, blaming the bad weather for its poor start to the year.
However, DMGT, which owns newspapers including the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and about 100 regional titles, said today in a trading update that it had boosted revenue by 2% year-on-year in the three months to 31 December.
The company added that operating profit for the period, the first quarter of the company's financial year, was "well ahead of expectations" and only marginally below the same period last year.
DMGT also said it was on track to exceed its £100m package of cost-cutting and revenue boosting measures unveiled last November.
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| 11/02/2009 | 'Pay-TV and B2B firms best placed to weather media downturn' |
| Pay-TV broadcasters such as BSkyB and business-to-business magazines will weather the downturn well while the cost cutting measures of advertiser-funded newspapers, radio and TV networks may not be enough to ensure survival, according to a new report by Ernst & Young.
The report, published today and called Media & Entertainment ... By Numbers, concludes that the advertiser-funded commercial television and radio sectors are "highly exposed", while the newspaper industry is "performing worse than in previous recessions".
However, cable and pay-TV services and business-to-business publishers will be the "best recessionary performers" thanks to a relatively lower exposure to advertising and large subscriber bases. Large media buying agencies and the market research industry are also expected to weather the downturn better, according to Ernst & Young.
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| 09/02/2009 | The battle of Waterloo (and other stations) |
| The London newspaper market has just seen one big battle with Alexander Lebedev's takeover of the London Evening Standard. It is now set for another and the fight could be even tougher.
In the next few months, London Underground will decide on the format of the lucrative contract to distribute newspapers on the tube network - which will be put out to tender this autumn. For the past decade, the Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), which has just sold the Standard, has used the contract to distribute its morning daily freesheet, Metro. The paper's success has attracted fierce competition from News International, which launched the London Paper in 2006 and the possible arrival of a third strong competitor could make the fight even more interesting. Indeed, many analysts argue it is really London's free market that newspaper owners have their eyes on.
From an initial distribution of around 80,000, Metro's audited circulation in London has grown to just shy of 750,000. The original 10-year tube deal was partly designed to help build a sustainable business and according to the then London mayor Ken Livingstone, speaking in 2005, was only costing Associated £1m a year - although Livingstone said he wanted up to £5m for the contract. Before the downturn in the ad market in the last three months of 2008, Metro was thought to be making an annual profit of about £8m.
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| 09/02/2009 | Johnston Press brings in new advisers |
| Johnston Press, Britain's second biggest newspaper group, has brought in more advisers as a new top management team attempts a financial reconstruction to cut costs and borrowings to cope with a downturn in advertising and circulation.
The sale of flagship titles - The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post lead the way - are among the options being considered by John Fry, recently appointed chief executive, but with advisers pointing out that in a difficult market any disposal is unlikely to realise full value the board is holding back on early decisions.
Mr Fry is talking to Raglan, Capital, the Dublin based corporate finance business, about offers for Johnston's interests in Ireland which include the Leinster Leader and Kilkenny People.
Johnston paid €140m (£122m) for the Leinster Leader Group three years ago but Raglan, which took the initiative, is believed to have told Mr Fry the sale price for the Irish titles in the current climate is likely to be less than half the purchase price.
Mr Fry has now brought in KPMG to provide advice on the group's other major headache - ways to reduce its £465m borrowing mountain.The KPMG team is understood to have been given a brief stretching from debt refinancing to more cost cutting.
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| 06/02/2009 | Rupert Murdoch: 'Grim economy means rigorous cost cuts' |
| News International's advertising revenue fell 10 per cent in the last quarter of 2008, according to accounts released this morning – as parent company News Corporation announced a group loss of $7.6bn (£5.2bn).
Chairman Rupert Murdoch warned of a "grim economic climate, more severe and longer-lasting than previously thought", and said the company was "implementing rigorous cost-cutting and reducing headcount where appropriate".
Last month, it was reported that 100 journalists at News International, mainly in production, could lose their jobs.
Despite the advertising slump, News International's profit – though not specified in News Corp's accounts – remained steady.
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| 04/02/2009 | News Corp set to cut jobs in New York and London |
| News Corp is expected to trim jobs at its London and New York newspapers in the coming weeks, company insiders say, as a steep decline in print advertising has forced sharp cost reductions on the news business.
News International, whose papers include The Times, Sunday Times and The Sun, is in the final stages of an efficiency review conducted by the Boston Consulting Group and could cut up to 50 jobs, or some 2.5 per cent of its staff, although new posts may be created.
The Wall Street Journal, which has avoided deep cuts in the newsroom – considered the lifeblood of the organisation – is expected to lose about 25 positions, or 3 per cent of editorial jobs, through attrition, voluntary redundancies and possible compulsory redundancies.
The expected reductions pale in comparison with cuts being made across the newspaper sector including Gannett, the top US newspaper publisher, which cut 4,000 jobs in 2008 alone.
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| 04/02/2009 | Apax Could Bail Out Incisive Media After Covenant Breach |
| B2B magazine publisher Incisive Media could receive substantial funding from its owner, private equity firm Apax Partners, after it breached its banking covenants in December, according to FT.com, quoting a source with knowledge of the situation. The publisher of Investment Week and Accountancy Age is in talks with lenders including Royal Bank of Scotland over its outstanding commitments and, although neither side has confirmed an Apax equity injection, it would be a timely intervention in a period when credit is becoming harder and harder to secure. According to the company’s website, Incisive had £400 million of debt in December 2007.
Apax bought Incisive for £208 million in 2006 and raised a massive amount of debt, 7.5 times Incisive’s entire earnings, to seal the deal. Apax had wanted to merge Incisive with Emap, which it bought in partnership with Guardian Media Group for £2 billion in 2007—but finding the capital to fund a merged group proved too difficult. Last year Incisive bought the American Lawyer series of mags for $630 million (436 million) and bought VNU’s UK titles in 2006 for €320 million (£288 million) in 2006.
Posted in: Media, Magazines, Money
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| 03/02/2009 | New Tatler editor to be announced next week as Geordie Greig departs |
| Condé Nast has drawn up a shortlist of seven candidates and intends to appoint a new editor of Tatler magazine next week following Geordie Greig's resignation to become editor of the London Evening Standard.
Greig handed his resignation to the high-end magazine publisher yesterday morning. A short while later it was confirmed publicly that he was to replace Veronica Wadley as Standard editor as the paper's ownership was passing from Daily Mail & General Trust to the Russian billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev.
Despite the relatively short period of time that had elapsed, Condé Nast has confirmed it had already shortlisted seven candidates from 36 applications to replace Greig at the helm of Tatler.
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| 29/01/2009 | Jonathan Gillespie quits Google to join GMG Radio |
| LONDON - GMG Radio has appointed Jonathan Gillespie, Google UK's head of YouTube and display, and former head of radio at OMD, as its new commercial director.
Gillespie joins GMG Radio in April and will take on responsibility for all commercial activity for the group's portfolio of 13 Smooth, Real, Century and Rock Radio stations.
His role will include responsibility for marketing, national and regional sales, plus GMG Radio's digital activity.
Between 1998 and 2004 he was head of radio and, latterly, head of sponsorship and branded content at OMD UK, followed by the role of director at OPera Media.
His efforts within the commercial arena earned him a Radio Academy Fellowship in 2002, the first awarded to anyone from a media agency.
Gillespie's appointment comes as the current commercial director and deputy chief executive Stuart Taylor moves to take up the role of chief executive in April, following the departure of John Myers, who is leaving the group after 10 years.
On joining the group, Gillespie will report directly to the chief executive and will join the GMG Radio board.
Taylor said: "We are really pleased to welcome Jonathan to GMG Radio where his wide experience in radio, agencies and digital will strengthen an already formidable team."
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| 29/01/2009 | Carat's managing director Neil Jones quits for News International |
| LONDON - Neil Jones, managing director of Carat, is set to leave the agency after 18 years to become director of commercial strategy at News International.
In his new role, Jones will be responsible for developing innovative ways of trading that look beyond traditional space sales, working hand in hand with News International's head of trading, Dominic Carter.
Carter, who took over as leader of the publisher's merged ad sales operation last July, will continue to be responsible for day-to-day trading.
Both will report to News International's managing director of commercial, Paul Hayes.
Jones brings 25 years of media and marketing experience to the role. He will be expected to develop client and agency relationships at the parent group of The Sun, News of the World, The Times, The Sunday Times and thelondonpaper.
His appointment ends a six-month hunt, led by Hayes, during which News International representatives spoke to at least three other high-profile agency leaders from Omnicom, Publicis Groupe and WPP.
The search began after a review of News International's UK operations was conducted by Boston Consulting Group at the request of James Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corp Europe and Asia, in the first half of 2008.
No date has been announced for Jones' departure from Carat, but he will be a big loss to the Aegis agency, which has topped the UK's annual new business table three times in the past four years since he became managing director in April 2005.
Jones started his career as a marketing executive at Bluebird Confectionery in 1984, before joining Saatchi & Saatchi in 1986.
He became print buying manager at Zenith in 1988, before taking on an associate director role at Carat in 1991.
The 6ft 6in Leeds United fan led the Carat team that last week won the £55m Vodafone account, the agency's first major telecoms client.
Other wins at the end of last year included Santander's £32m consolidated business and Kellogg's consolidated ¤400m EMEA media account.
Jones and News International were unavailable for comment.
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| 28/01/2009 | Harper's Bazaar to go jumbo for March |
| Fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar will defy the media downturn with a special super-sized edition for March.
The fashion magazine will produce a jumbo 330mm x 245mm issue, in contrast with its normal 290mm x 215mm size, for its regular price of £3.99. Harper's Bazaar will use the extra space to showcase spring fashion.
Publisher National Magazines will carry the additional cost in paper and distribution as a "credit-crunch treat" for readers.
The larger magazine will still be on the shelves next month when rival glossy magazine publisher Conde Nast launches its long-awaited twice-yearly style title Love, edited by Katie Grand and costing £5.
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| 27/01/2009 | Industry Moves: News International; Bebo; eBay |
| —News International: Another big commercial appointment at News Corp.‘s UK newspapers division: Neil Jones, MD of ad agency Carat, is leaving after 18 years to become director of commercial strategy at News International. Jones is expected to find new clients, while Dominic Carter, NI’s head of trading, will retain responsibility for the company’s ad sales department, which merged across mediums last summer. Big name execs from WPP, Omnicom and Publicis were reportedly considered for the role. NI recently appointed former L’oreal marketer Jeremy Schwarz as chief marketing officer. Via Mediaweek.co.uk.
—Bebo: Two and half years after joining AOL-owned social network Bebo, global VP of sales Mark Charkin is leaving at the end of the month. He announced his departure in an email to colleagues this week and apparently does not have a new job lined up. Before joining Bebo in October 2006 he was head of sales for MSN in the UK and Ireland. From Brandrepublic.com
—eBay: Changing name badges at eBay: the e-tail giant has appointed Philip Rinn to the new role of director of advertising partnerships for the UK, Ireland, the Middle East and Asia. Rinn, formerly director of ad partnerships for eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) Advertising International, will be charged with sealing third-party deals as well managing existing tie-ins and finding additional revenues to advertising. From NMA.co.uk.
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| 27/01/2009 | Evgeny Lebedev reveals plans for London Evening Standard |
| Speaking for the first time since the acquisition of the London Evening Standard, Evgeny Lebedev has told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the paper's new Russian owners will invest £25m in the London newspaper over the next three years, and plan to increase coverage of the arts, culture and business to revive its flagging circulation.
Evgeny Lebedev, whose millionaire father Alexander took control of the Standard last week, said it would take on London's free evening papers, London Lite and The London Paper, by beefing up content to ensure the title "has enough in so that people feel they are getting real quality that you can't get in a freesheet".
The 28-year-old has been appointed senior executive director of the Standard by his father, despite having no newspaper experience.
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| 27/01/2009 | Ex-Emap boss predicts music magazines will merge |
| Dwindling circulations and falling advertising revenues will force a number of small music magazines to merge this year, a former Emap executive has predicted.
Dharmash Mistry, Emap's former head of digital operations, said the outlook for the music magazine industry in 2009 was one of "fewer, small [titles] with less staffing".
Mistry, who left Bauer last year following its £1.1bn acquisition of Emap’s consumer magazines and radio stations, was among a panel of industry experts interviewed for a newly published report on the state of music publishing.
The project, commissioned by independent record label Marrakesh Records, sought to find out whether music magazines would have a future in the coming year.
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| 22/01/2009 | World newspaper congress cancelled |
| The 62nd annual World Association of Newspaper annual congress has been cancelled. It was due to take place in India from 22 to 25 March with speakers from newspapers across the world. It is likely to be rescheduled for November.
As part of the congress the 16th World Editors Forum had also been due to take place where provisional guest speakers had included the editorial director of Trinity Mirror's regionals division Neil Benson. He was lined up alongside speakers from America and Italy to talk about how Trinity Mirror has integrated its newsrooms to handle 24-hour media.
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| 21/01/2009 | DMGT poised to sell Standard to Lebedev |
| Daily Mail & General Trust is expected to announce on Wednesday morning that it has sold the Evening Standard to the Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, a former lieutenant colonel in the KGB, for £1, people familiar with the situation told the Financial Times.
The deal would secure the future of the loss-making London newspaper, these people said, after more than six months of negotiations.
Mr Lebedev, who lives in Moscow, would become the first Russian citizen to own a leading UK newspaper. It would also be the first time in decades that DMGT, which publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, has sold a major title.
Estimates of the annual losses of the Standard range between £10m and £20m and DMGT would benefit from removing this from its balance sheet.
Peter Williams, finance director, told the Financial Times on Monday that DMGT did not regard the sale as “hugely significant” as it had already “crossed the Rubicon” of selling papers when the board decided to seek buyers for its Northcliffe regional newspapers arm in 2005.
DMGT is seeking to portray itself as more of a business-to-business publisher
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| 21/01/2009 | Google fails to export ad success to print |
| Google's efforts to export its advertising success to the newspaper industry have ended in failure with the closure of its Google Print Ads service.
The Silicon Valley company said yesterday it had hoped to create a new revenue stream for the embattled newspaper industry and produce more relevant advertising for consumers, but admitted: "The product has not created the impact that we - or our partners - wanted."
Google began offering the programme with 50 newspaper partners in November 2006 and expanded the network to include more than 800 US newspapers, although some members said it never gained traction in helping them combat the loss of print advertising to online.
The internet company said it would stop offering Print Ads on February 28, but it would place ads until March 31 for those advertisers with campaigns already booked.
Print Ads allowed advertisers to select newspapers for their ads based on demographics, location and publication type, then submit an offer and create and pay for their ads online.
Google came up with Audio Ads for radio in December 2006 and TV Ads for television in April 2007.
Google said yesterday it had no plans to stop offering either of those services.
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| 20/01/2009 | Print Roundup: Johnston Press; Dennis Publishing; Newspaper Regulation |
| Johnston Press: How many many regional newspaper jobs are there left to eradicate? There will soon be considerably less at Johnston Press’s Midlands titles where 49 jobs are under threat from a plan to restructure and centralise the papers’ subbing and production operations. Johnston is proposing to create three centralised subbing desks in Northampton, Peterborough and Milton Keynes meaning that sub-editors would be permanently moved out of local newspaper offices and the overall headcount brought down. The local offices are expected to retain their own reporters however. From HTFP.
Update: MediaWeek reports that up to 18 commercial redundancies are expected in Johnston’s Midlands operations, taking the overall total to 67.
—Dennis Publishing: No, not more editorial redundancies but a rare magazine launch. Dennis Publishing is to launch InsidePoker Business, which claims to be the first B2B poker magazine and will be the sister title of Dennis’s existing InsidePoker and PokerPlayer. The first issue comes out at the ICE games exhibition in London on January 27 and Dennis is hoping to tap into the growing popularity and commercial success of off- and online poker in the UK. The quarterly mag will be subscription-only and its first issue interviews Jim Ryan, CEO of Party Gaming. From MediaWeek.
—Newspaper regulation: One idea floated to halt the decline of regional newspapers, not least by Guardian News and Media editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, is that the state subsidises the industry’s news output. But Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, says: “A simple state subsidy is probably not something that will be a goer, for various reasons, not least because of the complexity of regulatory control we would have to follow.” Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesborough South, will ask for Parliament to consider a subsidy next week—but Satchwell instead is calling for a relaxation of M&A rules. Lord Carter’s Digital Britain review out next week is expected to address the plight of the regional press. Via PG.
By Patrick Smith - Mon 19 Jan 2009 |
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| 19/01/2009 | Ads Make up Over Quarter of Tuesday's Metro |
| A random review of advertising in the free newspaper, the Metro, has found that - in addition to six reader offers and a dozen in-house ads, including for the Daily Record - over a quarter of the paper was taken up with adverts.
The review, of last Tuesday’s edition of the paper - to be found on buses, at rail stations and in Scotland’s major cities - found reader offers involving pizza, a mobile telephone recycling initiative, a hotel chain, cycling and balloon flights.
The review is part of an allmediascotland.com snapshot of both indigenous titles and London ones operating as clear Scottish editions, such as The Daily Mail but not the Daily Mirror which, despite its Scottish branding in its masthead, last Tuesday contained only a couple of Scottish stories, both by Maggie Barry.
Already, allmediascotland.com has found that last Tuesday's edition of The Scotsman comprised 12.69 per cent of display and classified adverts, while the figure for The Herald - on the same day - was 24.65 per cent. Even including in-house ads, The Courier’s total, also for that same day, was 14 per cent.
allmediascotland has still to reveal the amount taken up by adverts in last Tuesday’s editions of the Scottish Sun, the Daily Record, Press and Journal, the Scottish Daily Star, The Times (Scotland), The Daily Mail, The Daily Star and The Express.
It was not possible to say whether any of the adverts recorded were appearing at massively reduced prices or even for free. And, of course, the Scottish editions of London-based titles included adverts sourced for UK-wide consumption.
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| 19/01/2009 | Financial Times buoyed by rise in subscriptions revenue |
| Financial Times publisher Pearson will report a double-digit rise in profits when it announces its full-year results in March, the company confirmed today.
In a trading update covering the last three months of 2008, Pearson said it expected to announce earnings growth in the region of 20 per cent for 2008, helped by increased subscription revenues at the FT.
FT Publishing, the division that includes the Financial Times and FT.com, achieved a good level of turnover and profit growth in the fourth quarter of the year, despite the slowdown in the advertising market, Pearson said.
Chief executive Marjorie Scardino said in this morning's trading update: "We are naturally cautious about the economic environment, but we take confidence from our performance in 2008.
"It provides evidence that our strategy for long-term, sustainable growth is working."
She added: "Some of our markets will be tough this year and we are managing the company accordingly.
"But that strategy, our record of investment and our resilience will enable us to take full advantage of the opportunities this environment gives us to build our business and gain share."
Pearson said it expected trading conditions this year to remain challenging and said it was planning on the basis that the worldwide economy would stay tough throughout 2009.
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| 16/01/2009 | Associated looks to cut its losses with sale of London Evening Standard |
| Selling the London Evening Standard to Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev would dramatically transform publisher Associated Newspapers' finances at a time when circulation and advertising revenues are coming under severe pressure, according to City analysts.
The London evening newspaper is understood to be losing more than £10m a year and mitigating those losses through a sale to Lebedev would help Associated reverse several years of declining profits.
"It is obviously making losses at this stage, with circulation and classified advertising in decline, so the assumption is they are doing it to eliminate the losses as opposed to making a bundle by selling it," said one analyst, who wished to remain anonymous.
Last year Associated, which also publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, saw operating profits drop by £10m – or 13% – to £73m as revenues remained static but margins crumbled. Analysts forecast that its profits this year will be down to £64m.
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| 15/01/2009 | Manchester Utd’s Rio Ferdinand Becomes Digital Magazine Publisher |
| The reading public’s stubborn refusal to take digital magazines at all seriously has not deterred Manchester United and England footballer Rio Ferdinand from launching his own online title. The immodestly named Rio launches next month and is produced by Made Up Media, as the company’s blog confirms. Available for free, it spans 24 pages and will be edited by Made Up Media co-founder and former NME journalist Iestyn George with centre-back Ferdinand taking up editor-in-chief duties. The target “database” is 500,000—though that’s not the projected readership, just the people who will be sent an opt-in email to get a copy of the mag in their in-box.
The Brighton-based publisher was founded in 2007 and also publishes the Catflap football site and InGolfWeTrust.com. There have been a few consumer digital mags, like Dennis Publishing’s Monkey, but contract digital mags aren’t unheard of: former Monkey publisher James Mallinson launched a page-turning online mag for the TalkSport radio station last June.
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| 13/01/2009 | Ex-Emap executive gets top position at Mail on Sunday |
| Marcus Rich, the high profile former Emap executive, has been appointed managing director of The Mail on Sunday and deputy managing director of Mail Newspapers.
Rich, who will take up his position in February, replaces Stephen Miron, former MD of The Mail on Sunday, who left the group in November to join Global Radio as chief executive. |
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| 12/01/2009 | Computer Buyer becomes latest magazine to close |
| Computer Buyer, a monthly magazine published by Dennis, has ceased publication after 18 years and merged with another title.
Dennis – which publishes magazines including The Week and Auto Express – said it had closed the title due to falling circulation.
It will merge with Computer Shopper, another Dennis title, and subscribers can have their order carried over, the publisher said.
In 2007, according to ABC, Computer Buyer had an average circulation per issue of 9,477, of which 3,481 came from newsstand sales.
But that number has fallen sharply. A statement from Dennis said: "With a newsstand sale of fewer than 2,000 copies a month it has become impossible to keep publishing the title."
Since 2007, the magazine has been written and edited by freelancers, so there will be no redundancies. Sales staff have been moved to other roles within Dennis.
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| 09/01/2009 | GLIMMERS OF HOPE, BUT OUTLOOK STILL OVERCAST |
| Glimmers of hope but outlook still overcast
The big freeze has dominated newspaper weather coverage of late, but there was talk yesterday of a thaw in the prospects for consumer publishing.
After months of gloomy predictions for the whole media sector, almost worthy of the film Groundhog Day, analysts at Teathers defied the consensus, claiming to see a glimmer of light.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Ex-KGB officer offered to buy Evening Standard - Jan-08NY Times puts Boston Red Sox stake in play - Dec-27Newspaper asset sales draw few buyers - Dec-18Lex: The future of newspapers - Dec-11Writing on the wall for newspapers - Dec-10NYT eyes asset sales - Dec-09Based on the fact share prices have risen for some of the most deeply troubled companies in the sector, with newspaper group Johnston Press up 122 per cent from its 52-week low, and Trinity Mirror up 109 per cent, Andrew Walsh and Charles Peacock were looking for reasons to be, at least, relatively cheerful.
“After the macro shocks of 2008, the market is already showing an appetite for the consumer publishing sector and, in particular, an interest in exposing valuation anomalies,” they wrote.
They pointed out that consumer-facing, cyclical industries, of which media is a stand-out example, have led equities out of bear markets in the last nine out of 10 instances in the US.
They see scope for further efficiency savings in the shared production of local titles using regional printing presses. “Meanwhile, new business models in the news business suggest that the product . . . can be enhanced with user-created content without a corresponding increase in costs.”
They say that media companies with heavy debts could find it easier to renegotiate loans, because banks rescued by the government would not wish to be seen to be causing bankruptcies in such high-profile businesses.
They add that by late summer, comparable figures for 2008 will be so low that declining advertising revenues will seem less serious.
Another report on European media by UBS analysts said: “We see [2009] as a story of two halves, with defensive names outperforming in [the first half] and cyclical names outperforming in [the second].” Television and newspaper companies are the archetypal cyclical stocks, whereas bigger more diversified names such as WPP Group or business-to-business groups, such as Reed Elsevier or Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, are classically more defensive.
Bullish analysts, however, are thin on the ground, with many unconvinced that the winter of discounted valuations will end any time soon.
An analyst with a major investment bank, who asked not to be named, said: “Consumer publishers in particular are the ultimate cyclical stocks and our view is that it is still too early to get back into them yet.
“We know things are going to be bad, but they could be far worse than everyone is expecting.
“Our view is that a large amount of the loss is structural and a lot of that advertising revenue simply isn’t going to come back when the economy turns back up.
“We also fear that there is an obvious temptation for newspapers, especially regional newspapers, to cut costs in editorial quality. If consumers are thinking about whether or not to buy a local paper, then reducing quality of content is not going to persuade them to do so. In fact, it could be the downfall of that industry.”
So is light shining through the clouds, or are we stuck in an endless winter?
Perhaps it is worth remembering that the weather-predicting marmot in Groundhog Day was said to foresee a depressing extension of cold weather not when it was cloudy, but when the sun shone.
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| 08/01/2009 | WWE Appoints Unanimis |
| World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has appointed Unanimis to handle its online and mobile ad sales account.
Unanimis will be responsible for selling standard display inventory and creating sponsorship deals and integrated opportunities.
Unanimis pitched against undisclosed agencies to win the account. Previously Goalover handled the ad sales.
Toby Feldman, marketing director at WWE, said, "Our site offers a deep and diverse range of advertising opportunities....
There's the potential to extend our relationship with Unanimis into Europe."
WWE is to launch an integrated campaign to promote the April WrestleMania event on pay-per-view.
Feldman said the campaign, which kicks off in March, is likely to run across mobile and SMS.
WWE.com attracted 375,000 unique users during November 2008, according to Nielsen Online. Unanimis counts the AA, Five and Lucky Voice as clients.
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| 06/01/2009 | TV ad revenue could fall up to 20% this month, say media buyers |
| The new year will bring more gloomy news for UK commercial broadcasters, with TV advertising revenues forecast to be down by up to 20% year on year this month, according to media buying agency sources.
A 12% TV ad revenue dip is the most optimistic projection for January, with the most pessimistic forecasts suggesting that the year-on-year decline could be as much as 20%.
This forecast far outstrips the already downbeat predictions for UK 2009 TV advertising revenues being down between 6% and 10% across the year as a whole, and does not bode well for the overall outlook for commercial broadcasters in the first quarter.
The TV ad buying market has become more short term, and therefore increasingly hard to predict, but at least one senior media buying agency executive believes the first quarter will see a drop of at least 12% year on year.
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| 06/01/2009 | Fry takes up the reins at Johnston Press |
| John Fry has spent his first day in the office as the new chief executive of regional publisher Johnston Press after taking up the role yesterday.
Formerly chief executive of Norwich-based regional media group Archant, the 51-year-old was originally appointed to the JP role back in September last year.
John takes over at a critical time for the company with JP's share price recently dipping below 10p.
He replaces Tim Bowdler, who has now stood down as chief executive although he is being retained by JP for a period in order to assist in "a smooth transfer of responsibilities." As reported on Friday, Tim is to become the non-executive chairman of the Press Association.
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| 12/12/2008 | Northcliffe ad sales jobs under threat |
| Northcliffe Media is planning to scale down the 40-strong sales team which handles national display advertising for its regional titles.
The work is expected to be outsourced to the independent sales house, Mediaforce, which already performs the same function for Johnston Press.
In a statement yesterday, the company said the 40 sales staff would be deployed in new roles in the short term but admitted there may be job losses in the longer-term.
Northcliffe Media has entered a period of consultation with the employees affected, the majority of which are located in London and Manchester.
At present, all national display and recruitment advertising is handled through Northcliffe's in-house national sales team.
The proposed changes would see the display advertising outsourced, whilst recruitment advertising would remain with the in-house staff.
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| 10/12/2008 | Three newspaper groups relegated from FTSE 250 |
| Trinity Mirror, Johnston Press and Mecom have all fallen out of the FTSE 250 after their share valuations fell by up to 90 per cent in the past year.
Press Gazette recently reported that Trinity Mirror was strongly tipped to be among the companies to be expelled from the second division of publicly quoted media companies in the FTSE committee’s quarterly reshuffle.
Trinity Mirror’s share price closed at 53p last night, when it was 351.5p a year ago.
The Mirror, Record and People publisher’s market value has dropped from £905m to £136.5m over the past 12 months.
It has now been relegated to the FTSE SmallCap Index, where it is joined by Yorkshire Post parent company Johnston Press.
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| 10/12/2008 | Three newspaper groups relegated from FTSE 250 |
| Trinity Mirror, Johnston Press and Mecom have all fallen out of the FTSE 250 after their share valuations fell by up to 90 per cent in the past year.
Press Gazette recently reported that Trinity Mirror was strongly tipped to be among the companies to be expelled from the second division of publicly quoted media companies in the FTSE committee’s quarterly reshuffle.
Trinity Mirror’s share price closed at 53p last night, when it was 351.5p a year ago.
The Mirror, Record and People publisher’s market value has dropped from £905m to £136.5m over the past 12 months.
It has now been relegated to the FTSE SmallCap Index, where it is joined by Yorkshire Post parent company Johnston Press.
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| 09/12/2008 | Steak Digital |
| The former VP of global marketing and communications at performance network Miva assumed the role at Steak in February to help drive the agency’s growth.
She leaves to join the humanitarian field but will retain her seat on the Steak Group board.
Steak NY will be headed by Mark Schwartz and Noah Elkin, along with Steak Media CEO Oliver Bishop.
Steak NY clients include BBC America and Maxim.
Philalithes quits Miva to help Steak launch New York office
Miva moves marketing head to New York
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| 19/11/2008 | Johnston Share Price Suffers Another Plunge |
| The share price of The Scotsman publisher, Johnston Press, dropped almost 20 per cent in value to eight pence, in dramatic contrast to its £2.52 price only twelve months ago and £4.20 two years ago.
It did briefly rise above the 10p mark during early trading yesterday, but then embarked on a steady decrease. At its lowest point, it was down to 7.70p before rallying. By close of play, the drop was 19.03 per cent.
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| 18/11/2008 | UBM construction titles take profit hit as ad revenues fall |
| United Business Media has revealed that print advertising is down by more than 20 per cent in some of the sectors in which it operates.
In an interim management statement this morning, the company also revealed that it has shed 300 jobs in the second half of 2008.
Profits for its B2B publishing division CMPi will be down year on year "due to weakness in the UK economy and losses from new product development".
UBM said the sharp decline in print advertising in some sectors is due both to “economic disruption” and “an accelerated switch to digital and online platforms”.
It said its titles in construction – such as Building – have been affected by this. These titles are predicted to show a £4m decrease in profits in 2008.
But it said that some titles continued to perform well, such as weekly magazine Farmers Guardian, which has achieved a six per cent growth in revenues year on year.
At UBM’s online technology publications Techweb and Everything Channel, online revenues were said to be up 20 per cent year on year and growth is forecast to continue in 2009.
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| 18/11/2008 | Independent newspapers to cut 90 jobs |
| Independent News and Media is to cut around 90 jobs from The Independent and The Independent on Sunday as part of a major restructuring programme that will affect all areas of operation.
The majority of the cuts will come from the editorial department but INM, which also publishes this website, said "a sizeable number" of the redundancies will be voluntary.
INM expects the total savings of the restructure will be in excess of £10m and the changes to be implemented by early next year.
The publisher said in a statement: "In common with newspapers around the world, The Independent and Independent on Sunday have been hit by a downturn in advertising revenue and this has prompted a major review of the papers' cost base.
"As well as much greater integration between the two papers, a more efficient use of technology will enable the papers to streamline their production processes, thereby saving staff numbers."
The company also said it was investigating the possibility of outsourcing some areas of operation.
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| 17/11/2008 | Multimedia approach pays off for Mail |
| An imaginative and well-packaged newspaper is how judges described the Hull Daily Mail after it was crowned Yorkshire's finest daily for the fifth time in six years.
The Northcliffe title took four awards at the 2008 Yorkshire Press Awards – Trainee of the Year, Sports Writer and Best Multil Platform News Package along with the top prize.
Editor John Meehan said: "We are delighted the quality of journalism at the Mail has been recognised once again at a major awards ceremony.
"We have an outstanding team of journalists who consistently prove they are among the best in the regional press. These awards are tribute to their hard work and professionalism.
"The Mail has always been at the heart of the community. The business has gone through some major changes in recent years and we now publish news in print, on the web and by mobile.
"We are very proud of our success but we are not complacent and will continue to innovate while at the same time pursuing our goal of giving a voice to local people, enriching lives and encouraging vibrant community spirit."
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| 17/11/2008 | Ex-Economist chief Helen Alexander wins Morris Award |
| Former Economist Group chief executive Helen Alexander CBE will be presented the Marcus Morris Award for her contribution to magazine publishing at a lunch today in central London.
The award recognises "significant and longstanding" contribution to the magazine publishing industry in the UK - in honour of the late Morris, who launched Cosmopolitan and Company and died in 1989.
Alexander held the chief executive role at the Economist Group from 1997 until July this year. She saw the publication’s circulation increase by almost 50 per cent and the company’s operating profit rise by 75 per cent. She also led the magazine’s expansion overseas.
Alexander was awarded a CBE in 2004 In recognition of her services to publishing, and chaired the PPA from October 2006 to July 2008.
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| 14/11/2008 | Mobile recruitment |
| Mobile devices are the next big thing in recruitment, recruiters have heard.
Glenn Gutmacher, vice president of JobMachine, a social networking consultancy told the Recruitment Community Europe Conference 2008 in Amsterdam that 2.6bn mobile devices would be sold this year worldwide. “This was more than the total number of existing PCs,” said Gutmacher.
“Recruiters really need to realise that young people are using mobile devices more than using their PCs,” he said.
Gordon Lokenberg, a recruitment blogger and consultant on the use of technology in recruitment, said that one way recruiters could take advantage was to send out a link to candidates so they could complete pre-application screening tests while they were travelling.
There were benefits to recruiters too Lokenberg claimed. “You don’t need to go to your office. You can lie on the beach. and start screening your CVs.
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| 13/11/2008 | Trinity Mirror advertising revenues drop 20 per cent |
| Trinity Mirror has ramped up its cost-cutting exercise after reporting a 20 per cent year-on-year drop in advertising revenues in the four months to the end of October.
The publisher told the City this morning that it expected to have made £25m in cost savings by the end of this year, up from the initial target of £20m.
It said it had closed 28 newspapers since the beginning of the year, and was expecting to deliver at least another £20m in savings in 2009.
In its trading update, Trinity Mirror reported a 12.8 per cent fall in group revenue between July and the end of October on a year on year and like-for-like basis.
Advertising revenues fell 20.1 per cent, with a sharper fall in the regionals – 21.2 per cent – than the nationals, which fell 15.4 per cent in this period.
Echoing Johnston Press's trading update yesterday morning, Trinity Mirror said regional propoerty advertising was the worst-hit sector, down 42.6 per cent, with double-digit declines also for display, recruitment and motors.
The publisher said it expected conditions to remain "challenging" for 2009 and said it was staying "cautious".
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| 13/11/2008 | Record results for B2B giant Euromoney |
| Daily Mail and General Trust-owned business publisher Euromoney Institutional Investor has reported record profits and revenues and says it is weathering the downturn well.
It reported adjusted operating profit up three per cent to £81.3m on turnover up nine per cent to £332.1m. Adjusted profit before tax was up 21 per cent to £67.3m.
Chairman Padraic Fallon celebrated what he said was “a year of achievement in worsening markets, when we broke all previous records”.
He added: “Some revenue streams, particularly advertising and sponsorship from the money centre institutions, have begun to turn down as we anticipated, but the robust nature of our subscription revenues, the geographical spread of the company and the continued growth of Metal Bulletin and our legal and telecoms activities are very encouraging. Cash flows run at record levels.”
The company said that today's results demonstrated the success of its strategy to build a "high quality, more robust subscription-driven information business". Subscription revenues were said to be up by 18 per cent to £123.1m.
Euromoney said it had made a successful transition from being a predominantly publishing-driven business to one with significant activities in events, training, electronic information and database services.
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| 13/11/2008 | Newsquest to roll out price comparison services |
| Regional newspaper group Newsquest is rolling out money and insurance comparison services across its portfolio of local sites through a partnership with BeatThatQuote.com
The company's 132 local newspaper sites will embed a price comparison service within channels such as cars and health.
Although the technology will be provided by BeatThatQuote.com, the service will be branded by Newsquest.
It marks the first time the publisher has had a dedicated and integrated finance partner, and is the latest in a series of moves to invest in services provided by its local sites.
According to Nielsen, BeatThatQuote.com was the UK's fastest-growing web site in 2007, beating Facebook into second place
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| 11/11/2008 | Senior executives |
| The demand for senior level executives has declined worldwide, according to a new report.
The report, from the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), shows that in the third quarter of this year, net revenues from executive searches worldwide grew by 2.8%, the smallest annual growth recorded for over three years. There was a 6.3% drop in demand compared with the second quarter of this year marking the first quarterly drop for almost two years.
The report also shows that Europe experienced the greatest yearly decline (down 7.6% this year and down 10% over the quarter), while the only region to witness an upturn in demand over the year was Central/South America (18%), which also saw the smallest drop over the quarter (2%).
Peter Felix, president of the AESC, said: “As might be expected during economic turmoil, executive search clients are being more cautious about initiating new senior hires than they were earlier this year. Nevertheless, the extent of the decline in worldwide revenues for the industry is still relatively minor and many parts of the world and many sectors are still showing strong demand.”
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| 11/11/2008 | Johnston Press warns after steep fall in advertising |
| Johnston Press underlined the perilous state of the UK newspaper industry by warning that its full year operating profit would be “at the lower end of expectations” following steep falls in property, employment and motor advertising.
Advertising revenues for the 44 weeks to November 1 dropped more than 15 per cent across the group which owns The Scotsman, Yorkshire Post and 316 other local and regional newspapers.
Johnston, which is the only UK publicly quoted company solely focused on the regional press sector, said its overall performance had deteriorated since August, when it reported a 9.5 per cent fall in advertising revenues for the first 26 weeks of the year.
Since January the company has cut 936 jobs or more than 12 per cent of its workforce. Of that total, 540 were cut in the last four months.
Johnston said there had been “further substantial declines in property advertising combined with significant falls in employment and display advertising as the UK and Republic of Ireland economies suffered from both the ‘credit crunch’ and a reduction in economic activity.”
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| 25/10/2008 | Microsoft ad revenue up 15% in last quarter |
| LONDON - Microsoft's global online ad revenue totalled $557m in Q3, up 15% year on year.
However, Microsoft's online services business division, which houses its display and search ad operations plus its MSN portal, remains heavily in the red. Pre-tax losses soared by 80% year on year in Q3 to $480m, from $267m in the same period last year.
In July, Microsoft restructured its UK commercial operation, folding its Advertiser and Publisher Solutions arm and its search division into Microsoft Advertising - a move that doubled the unit's size to 230 staff.
MSN UK commercial director Chris Ward heads the integrated division - which rebranded from MDAS to Microsoft Advertising in May - and Chris Maples, formerly managing director of Drive PM, became its new head of sales.
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| 24/10/2008 | Newsquest ad revenue slumps 24% |
| Regional publisher Newsquest has become the latest newspaper group to suffer the effects of the economic downturn, revealing that its ad revenue tumbled by 23.6% year on year in Q3.
Owner Gannett, the US-based media group behind USA Today, said Newsquest's classified ad revenue was 29.1% down year on year. It did not, however, reveal the absolute amount of ad revenues.
Newsquest operates 300 newspaper titles in the UK including The Argus in Brighton and Scotland's Sunday Herald.
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| 23/10/2008 | LinkedIn secures $22.7m investment |
| LONDON - LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals, has defied the current financial climate and secured $22.7m in new funding to help extend its network around the world.
Leading the new investors are Goldman Sachs, The McGraw-Hill Companies and SAP Ventures. There has also been re-investment by Bessemer Venture Partners.
The multimillion-pound financial boost is in addition to the $53m funding the site secured from a group led by Bain Capital Ventures in June.
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| 20/10/2008 | WAN: Traditional media has five years growth left |
| The death of traditional media has been exaggerated, according to global leader for entertainment and media practice at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong.
Speaking at the World Association of Newspapers readership conference, Marcel Fenez said that although digital advertising will continue to soar over the next five years it will still only globally represent 10 per cent of total advertising for newspapers by 2012.
He forecast that global print advertising will grow 1.8 percent to $123.3 billion in 2012, while global digital advertising will grow 19.3 percent to $13.4 billion.
He said: "One of the things we need to get into context here is that traditional media isn't dead yet and won't be for the next five years."
"It's very important to think why. The over-50s are helping to sustain traditional media, and also in many of the emerging markets there is still plenty of room for traditional media. The death of traditional media is exaggerated, at least in a five-year context."
Total lobal newspaper advertising will grow 2.9 percent to $136.8 billion in 2012, with digital advertising accounting for 43 percent of the growth, according to Fenez.
Talking about the current economic climate Fenez said that advertisers will take a "wait and see" attitude and be cautious about spending in the first half of 2009. "They won't do anything until mid-year. If they have the revenue, they'll release their budgets."
Research by PriceWaterhouseCoopers showed that media executives were 25 per cent more likely to collaborate than any other industry, which Fenez said was important, especially in a recession.
"We're realising that to win you don't need to rip the other guys eyes out," he said.
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| 19/10/2008 | Rush to fill gaps in website revenues |
| A slowdown in online advertising, for years the fastest-growing part of traditional media businesses, is forcing newspaper and magazine owners to experiment with ways to shore up website revenues.
Enders, a research group, estimates that the UK online display advertising market was at best flat in the third quarter, compared with the same period last year. Growth rates in recent years have been double digit.
The rates that media owners can charge for display advertising have fallen by about a third over the last year, it said.
“The phenomenal growth of online advertising . . . was always going to slow down at some point,” says Simon Waldman, director of digital publishing for Guardian Newspapers. “The next 18 months will be tougher because of the overall economic climate.”
But as print circulation declines, media owners are still reliant on the web as a source of growth. Many are diversifying out of advertising into revenue-sharing partnerships with e-commerce sites, such as travel or dating. But some are also experimenting with techniques and technologies, with increased targeting of advertising to readers widely seen as the best way to raise yields.
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| 17/10/2008 | WAN conference: 'Print media should be an island in the chaos' |
| Print media's seclusion from the internet it its emerging strength, according to William Powers, media columnist US-based weekly journal The Nation.
In his keynote speech addressing the World Association of Newspapers Readership Conference, Powers explained some of the key topics from in his essay: "Hamlet's Blackberry" which discussed the enduring power of paper.
He said: "In a multitasking world where pure focus is harder and harder to come by, I believe print media's seclusion from the web is an emerging strength. Paper is a still-point for the consciousness, an escape from the never-ending business and burdens of the screen. It's an island in the chaos. Rather than 'everything all the time', paper's slogan could be 'Just this one thing'."
Powers said that although the limitlessness of the internet is "wonderful in many ways" and suited to news consumption, its "vastness is also its greatest flaw" and that reading longer articles online was difficult and distracting.
"When you're reading an article on a screen, your mind is conscious of all the other information that's just a click away – from your inbox to the latest headlines to your bank account to a billion You Tube videos. Thus, instead of escaping other demands on your attention as you read, you are mentally fending off those demands every moment you're at the screen."
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| 11/10/2008 | Financial Times in the pink with new-look website |
| The Financial Times tomorrow unveils one of the biggest changes to FT.com since the site launched in 1995.
FT.com has been scrapped as a masthead - in favour "Financial Times" - giving the home page a similar look to that of the newspaper, complete with a sky-panel promoting inside content and bigger headlines and photos on the home page.
The new-look site even appears on the same pink colour background as the one the paper is printed on.
The whole look of the site has been simplified - with scaled-down horizontal navigation bar at the top of the homepage to replace the long-detailed navigation list which currently appears on the left-hand side of the site.
Cramming lots of stories on to the homepage has the advantage of making them easier to find for casual readers of the site coming in via search engines.
But FT online editor James Montgomery said that the new look was intended to improve the experience of the site's regular readers.
He told Press Gazette: "The idea is to encourage users to browse across the site rather than find everything in one place on a busy and cluttered homepage."
He added: "It's fine to have millions and millions of random users from around the web but that audience is very hard to monetise accept through lowest common denominator advertising that earns you very little.
"Our design is built for people who want to read the FT and we hope it will deepen their engagement and make them more likely to become subscribers."
He said that technical changes at the back-end of the site should out-weigh the search-engine-optimisation drawbacks which come from having a less busy homepage.
These include changing the website addresses, or urls, of individual stories so they include keywords from the story - rather than just being meaningless computer code, as is the case currently.
The new-look site has different homepages reflecting the different geographical editions of the FT newspaper published in the UK, Asia, the US, Europe and the Middle East.
Montgomery revealed that the FT now has 800,000 registered users who have signed up since it changed its access model a year ago. Last October it went from being mainly subscriber-only to allowing limited free access.
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| 09/10/2008 | Workplace diversity |
| The business case for diversity in the workplace is not sufficiently promoted, a new survey has revealed.
New research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) shows that 68% of firms see legal pressure as the most important motivation for implementing diversity policies and practices, while 71% do not build diversity objectives into business targets and only 30% have a diversity management budget.
Dianah Worman, diversity adviser at the CIPD, said: “Education and awareness on the business case for diversity must be a priority for government as it progresses the Equality Bill. Our research clearly demonstrates the business case for diversity. But it also shows that too many businesses are driven more by the concern to meet minimum legal standards. A shiny new legal framework runs the risk of simply creating a slightly higher level of boxes to be ticked, while failing to bring about the real progress that promotion of the positive business benefits of diversity can bring.”
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| 10/09/2008 | Marketing recruitment |
| Marketing graduates will be hit by a recruitment freeze, the Marketing Society has claimed.
Hugh Burkitt, chief executive of the marketing network, told trade journal Marketing Week that he expected a halt in graduate recruitment.
“There are bound to be recruitment freezes and the big companies will suddenly stop their graduate programmes," Burkitt said.
He added that firms will likely extend their loyalty primarily to their existing staff, rather than new recruits looking for employment.
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| 10/09/2008 | Dennis expands into India |
| Dennis Publishing has announced its second global expansion in a week with the news that it is expanding into India.
The publisher, which announced earlier this week that it was launching an edition of news digest The Week in Australia, has set up joint venture with Media Transasia India and promises the launch of new magazines into the Indian market in the next six months.
The new venture, Dennis Media Transasia India, has already added established Indian music magazine Blender to the joint venture.
It will also be looking at launching digital-only brands following on from the success of Dennis’ digital men’s magazine, Monkey.
Dennis, which also publishes Maxim and Men’s Fitness, said it plans to become the largest men’s publisher in India, and will be introducing international licenses of Dennis titles in the Indian men’s market.
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| 10/09/2008 | Interview questions |
| The most popular interview question has changed due to the economic downturn, according to new findings.
The findings, from HR consultancy A&DC, using its online competency-based-interviewing (CBI) tool, shows that the highest priority for employers is knowing how a candidate manages conflicting demands. Six months ago, the most popular question focused on stress tolerance.
The new most popular interview question is: Describe an occasion where you had a number of conflicting demands on your time. How did you deal with this?
Rory Fidgeon, principal consultant of A&DC, said: “The reaction to the credit crunch is far-reaching – even in interviewing processes. A year ago interviewers wanted to know about candidates’ stress tolerance. That made sense – in expanding markets, organisations need to innovate, diversify and push strategic agendas.”
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| 09/09/2008 | Wizard of Oz to launch The Week in Australia |
| Felix Dennis, the British publisher who came to fame in the Oz obscenity trial of 1971, will today announce an Australian launch for The Week, his news magazine that provides a précis of other publications' reporting and comment.
The first new edition since the magazine expanded from the UK to the US in 2001 is intended as a bridgehead to Asian markets, Mr Dennis told the Financial Times.
"The Australian edition will be distributed much more aggressively in Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand," he said, adding that he would be "astonished" if The Week were not being published in India within three or four years.
Having spent "the best part of $50m" to get the US edition to profitability, Mr Dennis said he expected to invest $12m to $15m to get the Australian version to break even.
The launch, due on October 31, has been underwritten by the "extraordinarily profitable" UK edition, and follows Mr Dennis's sale of the US editions of Maxim, Blender and Stuff for a reported $240m last year to Quadrangle, the private equity group.
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| 19/08/2008 | Online news consumption up 31% |
| Online news consumption is growing, but television is still the most popular news source according to a new study from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
The US report reveals that the amount of people who go online for news three or more days a week has risen from 31 per cent in 2006 to 37 per cent in 2008.
Since 2006 daily online news use has grown from 18 per cent to 25 per cent, the study said.
However, the research found that 'Net-Newsers', individuals who turn to the web for news, accounted for just 13 per cent of those surveyed compared with 46 per cent, who rely heavily on TVnews and rarely view news online.
Figures posted by the study for newspaper readership showed a six per cent drop in the number of respondents who had read a newspaper on the previous day - from 40 per cent in 2006 to 34 per cent in 2008.
Despite the growth in online news consumption, the research said that the number of online readers of newspapers was not growing at the same rate as the decline of print audiences.
The report isn’t good news for the print industry which is already suffering steadily declines in audiences and falls in ad revenues.
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| 12/08/2008 | Little leads Guardian push into North America |
| Caroline Little was today confirmed as chief executive of Guardian News & Media's US operation.
Little, who joined GNM in August as a special adviser, will take up the new role in January.
She will be responsible for leading GNM's expansion across the continent, including the ContentNext network and sales and marketing for Guardian America. Little will be based in Washington and New York.
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| 10/08/2008 | Guardian owner the Scott Trust to be wound up after 72 years |
| The Scott Trust, the ultimate owner of the Guardian and the Observer, is being wound up after 72 years and its assets transferred to a new limited company.
The trust, created in 1936 to protect the legacy of the longstanding editor and former owner of the Guardian, CP Scott, is being replaced by The Scott Trust Limited so that the independence of the Guardian is placed on a "very secure footing for the future"‚ Scott Trust chair Dame Liz Forgan said.
"Over the 72 years of its existence the Scott Trust has periodically re-examined its structure to make sure it is in the best possible shape to guarantee the ongoing independence of the Guardian - the core purpose of the trust," Forgan said.
"The new body has been incorporated in the same spirit as the original trust, it has the same values and goals, and the reorganisation has no effect on the day-to-day management or control of [Guardian Media Group].
"It does, however, renew our commitment to preserve the legacy of CP Scott, further strengthen the protection afforded to GMG and the Guardian, and keep us on a very secure footing for the future."
The decision was taken because like all non-charitable trusts, the Scott Trust has a finite lifespan, unlike limited companies.
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| 10/08/2008 | Working week |
| Employers are to be confronted with revised legislation that will impose a maximum 60-hour working week.
Earlier this year, Britain agreed that it would retain its opt-out of the 48-hour week under a EU Working Time Directive.
The opt-out is to be subject to tighter controls including a new absolute maximum average of 60 working hours a week where there is an opt-out.
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| 10/08/2008 | ABCe: Guardian widens gap at top, Times breaks 20m |
| Guardian.co.uk widened the gap with Telegraph.co.uk by a further 188,000 users to cement its position as the most-visited national newspaper website in September.
Official figures released this afternoon by ABCe show the Guardian’s web traffic last month was up 4.65 per cent on August and 44.8 per cent year on year to a new high of 24.19m unique users.
The site is now 1.24m users ahead of the second-ranked Telegraph.co.uk, the gap was 1.05m last month.
The Telegraph site gained 4.02 per cent month on month and 115.55 per cent year on year to post a September unique user figure of 22.95m.
Telegraph Media Group digital editor Ed Roussel said: “Telegraph.co.uk benefited from a surge in demand for stories about the US election and the financial crisis, which helped raise the number of page views and unique users to a record high.”
Times Online has broken the 20m unique user barrier and accelerated further ahead of Mail Online after leapfrogging it last month to take third position.
The News International title saw a 3.21 per cent increase in monthly traffic compared with August, and it was up 62.11 per cent year on year to 20.32m.
The gap between Times Online and the fourth-ranked Mail Online now stands at 2.41m unique users – up 186,000 on last month’s gap of 2.22m.
Mail Online’s unique user base rose 2.55 per cent compared with August, and was up 53.24 per cent year on year to 17.91m.
The Sun Online lost traffic compared with the holiday month of August. It fell 1.26 per cent to 15.78m but was still up 47.86 per cent year on year.
The fifth-ranked Independent.co.uk saw the biggest month-on-month rise, up 20.62 per cent and was just 4,000 users short of the 8m mark. Its year-on-year gain was 96.83 per cent.
The Mirror Group of websites – including the Mirror titles and the People – also slipped in September, down 5.65 per cent month on month to 5.26m unique users.
An official year-on-year comparison is not yet available but Trinity Mirror claimed traffic was up 60 per cent according to internal figures.
Trinity Mirror Nationals managing director Mark Hollinshead said: “The development of mirror.co.uk is ongoing and we continue to grow an engaged, UK audience delivering strong year-on-year growth.”
September ABCe web traffic
-
All percentage increases are year on year
Guardian.co.uk - 24,186,422 - 44.78%
Telegraph.co.uk - 22,945,934 - 115.55%
Times Online - 20,322,634 - 62.11%
Mail Online - 17,913,660 - 53.24%
Sun Online - 15,783,551 - 47.86%
Independent.co.uk - 7,995,958 - 96.83%
Mirror Group - 5,259,763 - not available
Related articles
ABCe: Times Online leaps to third place in August ABCe: Guardian web lead grows in July The Telegraph steps up its quest for online domination ABCe: Guardian reclaims top spot online with 20m users ABCe: Mail takes lead but Guardian has more UK users New figures make Guardian top newspaper website inside UK ABCe: Telegraph claims top web traffic spot from Guardian ABCe: Mirror Group debuts with 4m web users in March ABCe: News sites' traffic dips in February National press ABCe figures: Record traffic as Mail closes gap on Guardian ABCe: National newspaper websites slump in December National press web figures: Telegraph moves to third, Guardian slips but stays top ABCe: Three newspaper sites post record traffic in October National Newspaper Web Traffic for September ABCe: Record September web traffic for national papers
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| 10/08/2008 | Graduate jobs |
| The majority of recent graduates are concerned over their job prospects due to the current economic climate, a new survey has revealed.
The findings, from recruitment website reed.co.uk, show that a quarter of recent graduates would be prepared to sacrifice 2.5-5% of their salary in exchange for job security for three years.
Two thirds of graduates think the private sector has been more affected than the public sector, and 20% are moving towards a career in marketing, media and creative sectors compared to 4% in finance, 2% in banking and 3% in accounting.
The survey also shows that most respondents have applied for more than five jobs since graduating and still haven’t found one.
Mark Rhodes, head of marketing at reed.co.uk, said: “We are seeing that graduates are shunning the traditional jobs and looking for opportunities in different sectors. It’s important that incoming university students have an eye on their future and not just their fellow students.”
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| 09/08/2008 | Jobs set to go as seven weeklies face axe |
| Around 30 jobs are under threat at a series of Trinity Mirror titles across North Wales and the North West as a result of a major shake-up in the company's operations across the two regions.
Seven weekly papers are set to close along with nine satellite offices in a series of moves announced to staff on Friday.
The proposed changes include the closure of three separate North Wales titles, the Abergele Visitor, Rhyl and Prestatyn Visitor and Your Vale, which will be replaced with a new free title, the Denbighshire Visitor.
Also closing is the advertising-led title Flintshire BuySell which will be integrated into the BuySell advertising platform in the Chester and Flintshire Chronicle titles.
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| 09/08/2008 | Trinity to close seven newspapers |
| Trinity Mirror is to close seven local papers and nine satellite offices in North Wales and the North West, putting 30 jobs at risk.
The UK's largest regional newspaper publisher, Trinity Mirror this summer warned advertising revenues were falling faster than at any time in the past two decades and promised to find £20m of new cost savings by next year.
As part of its drive to save money, Trinity will close three weekly titles in North Wales - the paid-for Abergele Visitor, and free papers the Rhyl and Prestatyn Visitor and Your Vale - and replace them with a free weekly title, the Denbighshire Visitor.
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| 09/08/2008 | Haymarket launches jobs site for motoring sector |
| Haymarket Consumer Media has launched a recruitment website, Motoringjobs.com, which will also power job features on Haymarket's Auticar.co.uk, performance motor site PistonHeads.com and after-market specialist CATmag.co.uk. |
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| 09/08/2008 | Online advertising is weathering economic storm says report |
| LONDON - Online ad spend is likely to fall this year in the UK as the economic downturn bites, although the sector will still post double-digit growth year on year, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report.
The report, "On Media: Online advertising through a downturn - weathering the storm", concludes that online is weathering the downturn by benefiting from a structural shift away from other forms of advertising such as TV and print.
Citing Advertising Association data, the report says that total UK online ad spend growth will slow to about 20% in 2008 - representing a slowdown of 18 percentage points compared with growth in 2007 of 38%.
The report adds that display spend is the online segment most vulnerable to the effects of the economic downturn "due to its focus on brand advertising and limited measurability". Display ad spend growth, though still high, is expected to be below the online market average in the UK in 2008.
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| 09/08/2008 | Northcliffe websites overtake newspapers |
| Northcliffe Media will launch 45 local websites tomorrow, taking the number of online news sites it publishes as part of its "This is" network beyond the number of newspapers it prints.
The launch of the regional news sites will take Northcliffe's digital portfolio to 151, surpassing the 113 daily, weekly and free newspapers that the regional publishing wing of the Daily Mail & General Trust currently puts out.
The majority of the launches will be hyperlocal offerings under the umbrella of existing regional and urban "This is" websites, including new sites for the Beeston and Hucknall, Sherwood and Long Eaton areas of Nottingham, previously served by the ThisisNottingham.co.uk site of the Nottingham Evening Post.
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| 09/08/2008 | MD Webb leaves Trinity Mirror |
| Richard Webb, the managing director of Trinity Mirror's UK nationals division, has left the company with immediate effect, becoming the most high-profile casualty of Trinity's cost-cutting drive.
He has been replaced by Mark Hollinshead, who will combine the role with his current duties as managing director of the Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail.
The Trinity Mirror chief executive, Sly Bailey, said: "The new role will enable our national newspapers to fully embrace the changing media landscape. Bringing together the power of these great brands is in the best interest of our business and our customers.
"Richard has done a tremendous job to further the success of the UK nationals during his time with the group, and he leaves with my thanks and best wishes for the future."
Following the news of Webb's departure, Trinity Mirror said that it would be making further announcements on its new management structure in the next few days.
The move has been brought about in the wake of Trinity Mirror's cost-cutting plans which last week saw it axe seven local papers and nine offices in north Wales and the north-west of England.
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| 09/08/2008 | Lehman Brothers collapse leaves 1m sq.ft of unlet space in Docklands |
| The collapse of Lehman looks set to leave Songbird Estates, the Aim-listed owner of Canary Wharf, with almost 1m sq ft of unlet space.
Lehman occupies around 1m sq ft of 25-30 Bank Street, which was purpose-built for the investment bank and opened in 2003.
The building, the failed bank's European HQ, was valued at £955m at the end of 2007. Lehman, which employed 4,000 people in the UK, pays an average annual rent of £41 per sq.ft as part of a 30-year lease - though property agents say the a rent review was imminent. The rent was expected to increase to £50 per sq.ft.
Shares in Songbird closed at 103.75p, down 6.25. The company would not comment on the repercussions.
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| 09/08/2008 | Northcliffe websites to outnumber newspapers |
| Northcliffe Media will today complete the current phase of its roll-out of new-look local websites, taking the number produced by the company to 151.
For the past three months, NML has been giving its "thisis" network of newspaper companion sites a radical overhaul, with the launch of a scores of "hyperlocal" sites for areas previously contained within larger portals.
Today sees the launch of the final 45 sites in the current wave, although more acould come on stream in the next six months including some in areas where Northcliffe currently has no newspaper presence.
Today's roll-out will mean that for the first time, Northcliffe now publishes more websites than newspapers.
The majority of the new additions to the network will be hyperlocal offerings under the umbrella of existing thisis sites.
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| 09/08/2008 | Herald Group Posts Yet Another £20 Million-plus Profit |
| The supposed economic gloom that has descended upon Scottish newspapers these last couple of years - and frequently cited as the reason for various staff cuts - appears to have by-passed The Herald group of newspapers. It's just made a pre-tax profit of £23.8 million.
Though staff cuts have taken place at the group's titles of The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times, the group's latest accounts show its profit has hardly changed from the year before. The financial year ended on December last year. For some reason, the previous financial year was 53, not 52 weeks, long, and then the pre-tax profit was £24.1 million.
Indeed, the group's profit represents 26.7 per cent of the entire profit made by parent company, Gannett, throughout the whole of its UK newspaper division: comprising 17 daily and almost 300 weekly titles.
The accounts also reveal a turnover of £86.8 million |
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| 09/08/2008 | Murdoch optimistic about online WSJ and Dow Jones subscriptions |
| Rupert Murdoch yesterday claimed online subscription revenues at the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones could rise by $300m (£164m) every year for up to three years, hinting that he will raise access charges to the financial news site.
Speaking at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia media conference in New York, Murdoch said he decided to ditch his original scheme for a free, open site after seeing the projections for the site's revenue which "changed his mind totally".
The Wall Street Journal site is the world's largest subscription website, going against the trend for open access and a reliance on advertising.
Before Murdoch bought WSJ.com he told investors traffic could increase by as much as 15 times if the paywall was lifted.
But he changed tack in January after evaluating the revenues from WSJ consumers and the business-to-business Dow Jones news wires, which supply financial stories to media outlets and businesses.
His decision reflects growing concern about the advertising market, although Murdoch said he expected WSJ.com to drive at least $100m in advertising revenues - and possibly a few hundred million more.
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| 09/08/2008 | Archant's Fry looks set to take over from Bowdler at Johnston |
| Archant chief executive John Fry looks set to be the new chief executive of Johnston Press following Tim Bowdler's retirement next May.
Both the Sunday Times and FT have named Fry as Bowdler's successor - according to the FT, Johnston Press is this week finalising contractual negotations with Fry.
Johnston Press is the UK's second biggest regional newspaper company, behind Trinity Mirror, and its chief executive is one of highest paid jobs in UK regional newspapers.
In 2007, Bowdler was paid more than £1 million - a basic salary of £566,000 plus a performance-related bonus of £516,000 and taxable benefits of £16,000.
Johnston Press publishes 294 titles - with a combined weekly circulation of 9,092,442.
Archant has 64 titles with a combined total weekly circulation of 2,456,984.
Whereas Johnston Press is publicly listed, Archant is privately owned.
Fry, 51, has been in charge of Archant since 2002. He previously ran an international banking software business for Misys.
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| 09/08/2008 | London weekly seeks to emulate Manchester daily |
| A weekly paper in London has become the latest convert to the "dual model" circulation strategy pioneereed by the Manchester Evening News.
The MEN has boosted its readership over the past year by moving towards a new part-paid for, part-free business model.
Now regional publisher Newsquest is attempting to repeat the trick by transforming its 135-year-old weekly paid-for title, the Richmond & Twickenham Times, into a paper with a mixed free and paid-for distribution.
The free edition of the Times will be delivered door to door in 54,500 homes in Richmond and Twickenham from Friday, October 10, replacing the area's current free weekly the Richmond Guardian which is to close.
The RTT will remain available for sale with key retailers for 50p in the area. Managers expect the move to increase overall circulation to above 61,000 copies per week.
"We're making the paper available to more readers. The more readers, the better for our advertisers," said marketing manager Chris Beech.
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| 09/08/2008 | New chief executives for Johnston and Archant |
| It's all change at the top of the regional newspaper industry today with the announcement of two key appointments at Johnston Press and Archant.
As widely rumoured since the start of the week, Johnston Press has confirmed that Archant's current chief executive John Fry will succeed out-going CEO Tim Bowdler next year.
Archant also revealed today that its current group finance director Adrian Jeakings, left, will take over as new chief executive, taking up the role on November 1.
Brian McCarthy, finance director of Archant Regional, will step up to take Mr Jeakings' role.
The Johnston Press announcement also revealed that 51-year-old Mr Fry will take over as chief executive on January 1 - four months earlier than expected.
Mr Bowdler had already announced his intention to stand down but it was anticipated that this would not happen until May.
Mr Jeakings, 49, is currently group finance director at Archant and has worked closely with Mr Fry for a number of years.
Before joining Archant he was group finance director of The Stationery Office, a provider of information management services to the government and industry.
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| 09/08/2008 | Johnston Press poaches Archant chief Fry to succeed Bowdler |
| NEWSPAPER publisher Johnston Press, the owner of The Scotsman, has appointed the head of rival group Archant to be its new chief executive.
John Fry will take up his position from 5 January next year, Johnston Press said yesterday.
He takes over from Tim Bowdler, who is retiring as Johnston's Press's chief executive early in 2009.
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| 09/08/2008 | City salaries |
| The average advertised salary in London is now £10,000 more than the rest of the UK, according to new figures.
The figures, from search engine AllTheTopBananas.com, show that the average advertised salary around the UK is £31,128, compared with London’s average advertised salary of £41,500.
The highest average advertised salary outside London is to be found in East Anglia, at £34,487, while the North West has the lowest at £29,676.
Dave Martin, managing director at AllTheTopBananas.com, said: “Advertised salaries are rising faster in London than the rest of the UK and the gap is getting bigger. This is a trend that is likely to continue throughout the next 12 months. We are also seeing advertised salaries continue to rise overall, putting added pressure on inflation. There’s a chance this could add to the UK’s economic woes in the next 12 months.”
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| 09/08/2008 | New Statesman owner plans media empire |
| Mike Danson, the millionaire owner of a 50pc stake in The New Statesman, is this week expected to announce the takeover of publisher SPG Media to create the foundations of a trade magazine empire.
Worth an estimated £234m, Mr Danson made his fortune building, floating and then selling the Datamonitor research group to Informa, publisher of Lloyd's List.
SPG's shareholders include Kelvin MacKenzie, the former editor of The Sun and owner of TalkSport. While Mr MacKenzie owns 10pc of the shares, Mr Danson already has a 20pc holding. Australian investment manager Ingot Capital Management holds the controlling 30pc stake.
Ingot Capital and Mr MacKenzie are understood to have agreed to sell to Mr Danson at a significant premium to SPG's closing share price of 8.38p on Monday night, with one source saying it could be as high as 50pc.
SPG, currently valued at £7.5m, saw its shares rise from a low of under 6p in August after the company announced that it had received an unsolicited approach from an un-named buyer.
The SPG portfolio includes 21 magazines in areas ranging from construction to hospitality, pharmaceuticals and transport, alongside 28 websites and 55 annual industry events. Its titles include World Cruise Review and Future Airport.
It is understood that chief executive Keith Sadler, who has helped turn the previously loss-making company around over the past three years, will leave the group after the merger completes.
The business is a perfect fit with Progressive Media group, a collection of trade titles which were spun off form legal publisher Wilmington Group and are now owned by Mr Danson.
Both SPG and Mr Danson declined to comment.
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| 09/08/2008 | Ads downturn weighs on DMGT |
| Sharp falls in advertising revenues from its national and regional newspapers led Daily Mail & General Trust on Thursday to say that results for the year about to end would be at the lower end of market expectations.
Viscount Rothermere, chairman, said that “inevitably the worsening economic conditions are having an impact on our newspaper and property businesses.”
Analysts were forecasting adjusted profit before tax of between £257m and £279m, compared with £288m in the previous year. In early trading the shares fell 7.4 per cent, or 24¾p, to 309¾p.
Peter Williams, finance director, said that the group’s business-to-business activities, such as trade shows and information publishing, including its 66 per cent stake in Euromoney, were performing well and made up more than half of group profits.
The business-to-business activities were not likely to be materially affected by the troubles of large financial institutions, he said. Indeed, the group had just had a large contract renewed by AIG, the insurance group bailed out by the US authorities.
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