MediaCommunications

MediaCom View: It was a bold move for Capital Radio to drastically reduce their advertising minutage, allowing only 2 spots in any one ad break. The potential hit on the stations advertising revenue in order to increase listeners has been the topic of discussion with the question on everyones lips being will it work? This research offers positive results with listener recall of individual ads up by a third when compared with a run of 5 promotional spots. The two spot ads fared even better when surrounded by Capital branded bumpers with recall increasing to 38%. Gcap are due to present these results, as evidence of the cut-through achievable with radio campaigns on Capital.

MediaCom View: The concept of listeners being able to create a personalised radio station online is not a new one, but up until now has been relatively niche (e.g. www.pandora.com) The BBCs move is in line with the growing demand for more interactive media - where listeners can self-select to fit in with their individual interests and lifestyles.

It will be interesting to see the take-up on this - on-line now accounts for 20.2% of radio listening and is set to grow with the steady increase of broadband subscribers. Commercial radio will need to monitor this, with a view to follow suit with offerings of their own. The future radio market will undoubtedly give listeners more autonomy and advertisers will need to offer increasingly more integrated solutions in order to capture a diverse, fragmented market.

MediaCom View: Ofcom have finally loosened the regulations around cross-promotional activity on Television channels. The changes mean that ITV, C4 and Five can go ahead with promotions covering digital channels and programming whilst Ofcom hopes to encourage the terrestrial broadcasters to become platform neutral in their promotional activity.

MediaCom View : A new study into TV viewing in PVR households claims the majority of viewing is still live and not time-shifted. Whilst the actual report wont be released until next month, comments on the results have indicated that viewers even manage to engage with commercials when fast forwarding at high speed.

MediaCom View : It is believed that News International is preparing to launch a free London evening paper regardless of whether it wins the contract for afternoon distribution on the tube. NI is looking at alternative ways of reaching commuters on their way home; these include using a raft of people to hand out the paper outside tube and train stations and employing dump bins. It is thought that they are waiting on the green light from News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch to proceed with plans. Not only will this give NI a head start on any future new launch but it will also put tremendous pressure on Associated Newspapers. Whilst the Metro is expected to make a 10m profit this year, its paid for sister title, the Evening Standard, has been struggling in recent months. The newspaper recently re-launched in full colour as well as adding more news pages and colour coding each section in a bid to entice commuters. However, if NIs plans come to fruition and the OFT makes a decision by the Autumn, it is likely that the Evening Standard will be forced to join its counterpart Standard Lite and slash its cover price completely.

MediaCom View : The Manchester Evening launched a lite edition about a year ago with limited success, distributing about 11,000 copies in the city centre. This ceased publication on the 8th May to be succeeded by a free edition of the Manchester Evening News, distributing 50,000 copies in the city centre. The Idea is to attract a new audience of newspaper readers as well as halting the decline in circulation, and hopefully see an increase. We believe this is a brave move by them and sure it will increase their overall circulation from the current 134,000, but are not convinced it will reach their target of 180,000.

MediaCom View : Affiliates are an area that DR advertisers should be all over cost-per-acquisition. Traditionally, affiliate marketing companies have paid more attention to clients direct and have only in the last two years turned their attention to agencies. One of our affiliate network partners has seen rapid growth in the last few years, with monthly revenues equalling their original yearly figure. Although the turnout for the industry meeting was not complete, with a few major players notably absent, it is indicative of a media channel that is starting to mature.