Amazon’s new Top Gear finally has a name (and it’s kind of meh) May 11, 2016 Car fans have been waiting a while, but the new version of Top Gear finally has a name. Featuring the former hosts of the BBC car show Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, The Grand Tour will soon make its debut on Amazon Prime. Yep, The Grand Tour. Read more: Jeremy Clarkson helps Amazon Prime promote [...]
Shareholders fault Disney despite Star Wars boost May 10, 2016 Shares in Walt Disney dropped around six per cent in after-hours trading after the company missed analysts' expectations in its second fiscal quarter. The figures In the quarter ending 2 February, the company reported revenues of $12.97bn (£8.98bn), up four per cent year on year. Earnings per share (EPS), meanwhile, were up 11 per cent to $1.36. [...]
ITN boss calls for more BBC outsourcing ahead of crunch white paper May 10, 2016 The BBC should use its “incredible position as a buying power” to boost outside TV production companies, the head of ITN has said. John Hardie told Morning Wire programmes such as Newsnight should be put out to tender. His comments come ahead of Thursday’s publication of a new white paper setting out the next BBC [...]
Channel 4 condemns government for “prolonged uncertainty” over privatisation May 10, 2016 Channel 4's chairman has described the “prolonged uncertainty” around the potential privatisation of the broadcaster as “not helpful”. The government has been considering whether to sell off the channel since last summer. Reports today suggested a partial privatisation is now on the cards along with the channel being moved outside of London. Read more: Channel 4 posts record [...]
Amazon just launched its own version of YouTube May 10, 2016 Amazon has upped the ante again when it comes to video with a new service which sounds a lot like YouTube. Users will be able to upload their own content through Amazon Video Direct (AVD) and it will be available to the millions of members of its Prime Video streaming service alongside movies and original TV shows, such [...]
Marketing in the age of Instagram: Olapic’s Jose de Cabo talks visual marketing, the future of earned content and what’s so special about the colour blue May 9, 2016 "Brands are not what marketers say they are anymore. They’re what consumers say they are,” says Jose de Cabo, co-founder of visual marketing platform Olapic. “User-generated content performs better than brand assets because it is more authentic.” Launched just as Instagram was starting out, Olapic uses software to root out hashtagged photos and videos from [...]
News Corp posts third quarter revenue fall as profits were hit by one-off charge and continuing lower advertising sales May 5, 2016 Global media behemoth News Corp posted a revenue fall in its third quarter results on Thursday, as profits were hit by a one-off charge and low print advertising sales continued to decline. The figures The owner of The Sun, The Times and the Wall Street Journal said its revenues had declined 7.3 per cent to $1.89bn (£1.3bn) in [...]
Read all about it: More blows traded as USA Today publisher Gannett tries to take over its rival May 5, 2016 Numerous blows have been traded between two US newspaper publishers as one seeks to take over the other. USA Today publisher Gannett today reiterated its call for shareholders of Tribune to pressure its board into considering an $815m (£556m) offer. Gannett, which also owns UK regional newspaper publisher Newsquest, made the takeover bid for Tribune, publisher [...]
As sun sets on New Day, online-only Independent offers some more positive media news – a doubled digital operation size May 5, 2016 It's not all bad news for the media today. Trinity Mirror confirmed the closure of its New Day newspaper after just over two months this morning. The publisher also revealed its group revenue fell by 9.3 per cent in a "volatile" market for print advertising. But the Independent, which closed its print edition earlier this [...]
Why the government should sell off Channel 4 into the nasty and horrible world of private sector competition May 5, 2016 Channel 4 tells us, for some reason, that they don't want to be sold off into that nasty and horrible world of private sector competition. They've commissioned a report which tells us all that it wouldn't be a good idea and perhaps, for those currently running it, it wouldn't be. The rather more important question [...]