DEBATE: Is it fair to consider ITV’s Love Island the biggest advertising opportunity of 2019? August 2, 2019 Is it fair to consider ITV’s Love Island the biggest advertising opportunity of 2019? Dave Lawrence, planning partner at creative agency Brave, says YES. Whether the show was the “biggest advertising opportunity” depends on what that brand was trying to achieve. While the women’s World Cup earlier this year, for example, had a much larger [...]
Verizon beats profit estimates as it boosts phone subscribers August 1, 2019 Verizon has posted better than expected profit for the second quarter thanks to strong growth in phone subscribers. Read more: Buzzfeed and Verizon plan to slash hundreds of jobs in grim day for digital media The US telecoms provider said it added 245,000 phone subscribers over the quarter, compared to 199,000 in the same period [...]
BBC gets Ofcom approval to stream shows on iPlayer for a year August 1, 2019 BBC TV programmes will now be available on iPlayer for a year, after Ofcom approved proposals to expand the on-demand platform. The broadcaster submitted a request to extend the availability of catch-up series from 30 days after broadcast to 12 months, with some programmes available for even longer. Read more: Britbox: BBC and ITV strike [...]
Commercial radio listening hits record level as online audience grows August 1, 2019 Commercial radio stations secured record audience numbers in the second quarter, thanks to a surge in online listening. More than 36.1m people tuned in to commercial radio in the UK over the three-month period, with share of listening hours rising to 48 per cent. Read more: UK ad spend defies economic gloom to hit £6bn [...]
Spotify fails to hit the right note as subscriber numbers miss expectations July 31, 2019 Spotify’s subscriber growth hit the lower end of its guidance in the second quarter, sending shares down in pre-market trading. The music streaming platform said it now has 108m premium subscribers, up 30 per cent on the year before. Read more: Music streaming firm Roxi plans London float as it looks to take on Spotify [...]
ITV used Facebook to find Jeremy Kyle Show contestants July 31, 2019 ITV used Facebook to find guests who wanted to take a lie detector test on its axed reality series The Jeremy Kyle Show, according to new evidence published today. In a letter to MPs, ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall said the show’s producers used the social media platform to attract contestants, admitting that “some did [...]
Forget a one-size-fits-all immigration policy – we need to get creative to protect the talent pipeline July 30, 2019 Different sectors of the economy are often accused of special pleading when it comes to making their case for immigration reform. In any given area, improving the skills base can boost productivity, and with the clock once more ticking down to the Brexit deadline, calling into question the status of future EU applicants, it is [...]
UK ad spend defies economic gloom to hit £6bn as online radio drives growth July 30, 2019 UK ad spend defied economic uncertainty and fraught political tensions to grow to £6bn in the first quarter, new figures have revealed. Advertising spend rose 4.2 per cent year-on-year thanks to strong growth in the video on-demand, online display and online radio sectors. Read more: Social media ad spend growth plummets amid decline in trust [...]
Ofcom sets out new rules for reality TV after Jeremy Kyle Show death July 29, 2019 Ofcom has proposed new rules to protect participants in TV and radio shows, weeks after ITV bosses were slammed over the death of a guest on The Jeremy Kyle Show. The regulator today unveiled plans for new rules requiring broadcasters to protect the welfare and dignity of participants in shows, and to ensure participants are [...]
Media group Future buys US publisher Smartbrief for up to $65m July 29, 2019 Media firm Future today said it has snapped up US-based news curation site Smartbrief for up to $65m (£53m) as it looks to beef up its business-to-business (B2B) offering. Future, which owns magazine titles including Four Four Two and Tech Radar, said it has paid an initial sum of $45m for the firm through a [...]