BJK&E Shed

Subscribe to industry headlines here

Week ending Friday 22nd August
Headlines archive

Digital

• Competition Commission Gets Mixed Views On Kangaroo

  The Competition Commission has received mixed submissions to its inquiry into the proposed video-on-demand venture by BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, Project Kangaroo. Google has supported the project, saying it does not expect it to have a negative impact on competition or customers, while Joost has complained that Kangaroo's partners will unfairly benefit from the service. A full report is due to be published in the new year.

• Facebook to Trial New Ad Service

  Facebook is set to kick-start its new interactive ad service trial in the UK next week. The new advertisements will allow site users to send brand-related virtual gifts and become a fan of the product or service, while on the same page.

• Guardian.co.uk Sees Record Traffic In July

  According to the latest ABCe figures, the Guardian website increased its unique users* to 20.6 million over the month of July. There was also good news for Times Online and Sun Online as they too reported record usage. Less positive news from Telegraph.co.uk who lost nearly one million users from June, however it remains the second most visited sight out of the seven national titles audited by ABCe. The Independent remained the sixth most visited site, but showed a loss in activity.

• Hasselhoff ditches MySpace to launch Hoffspace

  'Baywatch' actor, singer and peace bringer David Hasselhoff has launched a social networking site where fans can get together and start a conversation over their mutual interest in the star. While other social networks deal with the problem of monetising their sites, Hasselhoff has a higher purpose with the launch of HoffSpace. "Where it will lead, I don't know but the world would be a better place if everyone talked a little more to each other...," the star writes on his homepage. Unfortunately, he does not seem to have secured rights to the domain name Hoffspace.com, which appears to be dedicated to a family of Hoffs.At the time of writing, over 14,000 people have joined the site.

• Internet TV "Has Had Little Impact On British Viewing Habits"

  Internet TV has had little impact on British viewing habits, according to a Deloitte report. The report found that only 4% of the UK population consider it "very important" to be able to receive TV via the internet, while 47% still regard it is as not important to them at all. Television executives predict a growing appetite for internet television, with 47% believing that by 2010 it will be embraced by the majority of viewers, but for a minority of viewing.

Press

• NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: January - June 2008: London Free Press

  The latest NRS figures for the London afternoon freesheets show that thelondonpaper now has a total readership figure of just over one million, while the London Lite now has over 1.1 million readers

• NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: January - June 2008: National Dailies

  The latest six monthly NRS figures, for January to June 2008, show that overall, Britain's national daily newspaper market was static year on year in June.

  In the Quality sector, the Guardian and Times were both up by almost 8% year on year, whereas The Daily Telegraph saw its readership fall by around 1.5% year on year, leaving it with just over two million readers.The Independent was down by c. 11% year on year, to 706,000 readers.The Mid-Market titles experienced differing fortunes: The Daily Mail was up by c. 4.5% year on year to nearly 5.3 million readers, while the Daily Express lost around 9.5% of its readership, leaving it with a total of under 1.6 million. In the Popular sector the Sun was up, with an increase of 1.3% year on year giving a total readership of eight million, making it easily the most read title.

• NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: January - June 2008: Sunday Titles

  The Sunday newspaper market was down by 4.2% in the six-month period to June 2008. The Mail on Sunday was the only title to increase its readership, up by nearly 4% year on year to more than 5.7 million readers. The Daily Star Sunday was down over 12% year on year, while the News of the World suffered a 9% decrease of more than 750,000 readers in the period. The Sunday Times remains the most read title in the Quality sector, despite losing more than 100,000 readers year on year, with a readership figure of around 3.25 million. The Sunday Telegraph saw its readership drop c. 5% year on year, to just over 1.7 million.

Radio

• Radio 1 Shakes Up Its Schedule

  BBC Radio 1 has announced a number of line-up changes to its schedule, with Sara Cox and Edith Bowman returning and Dick and Dom leaving. Their departure has made way for a number of changes, including the introduction of two weekend shows for DJ Grimshaw and Nihal. The station has also re-jigged its late-night schedule, creating new shows for a number of DJs including MistaJam and Kissy Sell Out, while seeing the departure of Dave Pearce and Eddie Halliwell

Television

• Five Unveils New Autumn Schedule

  Five has unveiled its autumn line-up, which is set to include a number of new architecture and property programmes. The channel's season highlight features Bernard Braden's unseen interviews from the 1960s, with icons such as Cilla Black, Robert Maxwell and Sean Connery. The channel's new schedule also features Dangerous Adventures for Boys, starring Martin Kemp, Vic Reeves and Bradley Walsh. Paul Merton will return to the channel with Paul Merton in India, and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has been commissioned to host the Britain's Best Home and Garden new six-part series.

• Sky Set To Double Arts Content With New Channel

  Sky has announced that it is doubling its output of arts content by creating a new Sky Arts channel, which is set to launch on October 20. The bespoke arts channel will focus on more classical arts content, such as opera, classical music and fine art programming. Sky is also set to rebrand Sky Arts 1 to broadcast more contemporary and cult programming.

• Television Viewing Round-Up - July 2008

  All of the main terrestrial channels recorded a year on year decline in viewing share according to the July figures, with the exception of BBC One, which increased its share by 0.5%, giving it a total share 21.5%, ahead of all the other main terrestrial channels. ITV1's viewing share dropped by 1.2 % year on year in July, leaving it with a total share of 17.3%. Channel 4's viewing share fell by 1.4 percentage points year on year in July, leaving it with a total share of 7.8%.

  Five was down 0.6 percentage points, giving it a total share of just 4.6%. Non-terrestrial channels were up 2.3 percentage points to a share of 39.8%.