Shareholder advisory group tells members to reject £70m package of WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell May 18, 2016 Shareholder advisory group ShareSoc has recommended its members reject the remuneration package of WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell. The advice, issued today ahead of the firm’s 8 June AGM, comes after WPP last month confirmed Sorrell’s total pay package for 2015 totalled £70m. The figure included a £62.8m long-term bonus. Read more: Martin Sorrell's [...]
Johnston Press shows signs of a turnaround after bumpy start to year May 18, 2016 Regional publisher Johnston Press, which recently bought the i newspaper, today said it expects its full-year results to be in line with expectations despite a challenging first quarter. In its trading update for 3 January 2016 to 30 April 2016, group revenue fell by 13.7 per cent, hit by a 16.9 per cent decline in [...]
Recipe for success: BBC backtracks on plan to cull 11,000 recipes and announces plans to migrate content over to Good Food website May 18, 2016 In a good turn for peckish foodies and skint students everywhere, the BBC has backtracked on plans to cull 11,000 free online recipes and promised to migrate many of its popular recipes to the BBC Good Food site. A massive public outcry, including more than 166,000 people signing a petition on the campaigning site Change.org [...]
A recipe for disappointment: BBC expected to announce removal of cooking archive amid strong protests May 17, 2016 The BBC is expected to disappoint thousands today as it announces the removal of more than 11,000 archived recipes from its website. A petition calling for the archive to be saved has been signed more than 17,000 times – with thousands of names added this morning. Celebrity chef Jack Monroe has also been leading a charge against [...]
ITN chief executive looks beyond bulletin news as he seeks to make company a TV production giant May 16, 2016 Multi-million pound pay packages for top TV celebrities grabbed the headlines last week, when the government revealed its white paper on the future of the BBC. Yet while the sexier elements of the Tory-BBC row occupied most attention, ITN boss John Hardie insists that the most important issue behind any reforms is the provision of high-quality news bulletins. [...]
Prime position: Will Amazon come out on top in TV? May 16, 2016 Not content with battling premium video services like Netflix, Amazon now has YouTube in its sights. The launch of new user-generated content platform Amazon Video Direct (AVD) will allow video makers to upload their content to the site, where it can be watched by tens of millions of Prime subscribers. But becoming a one-stop shop for [...]
Keeping pace with programmatic: Ooyala’s Scott Braley explains how broadcasters and publishers can monetise better May 16, 2016 Programmatic trading is fast overhauling the online video advertising market. According to SpotX, 23 per cent of the UK’s video ads were programmatic last year. By 2020, this figure is forecast to reach 60 per cent. Better access to consumer data is allowing brands and their agencies to choose impressions more carefully and bid in real-time [...]
BBC white paper: Government stops short of “castrating” corporation – but raises independence concerns and opportunities for commercial rivals May 12, 2016 The government stopped short of “castrating” the BBC today, in the words of one media analyst. But John Whittingdale's white paper setting out the corporation's future has raised concerns over independence. It has also created opportunities for the BBC's commercial rivals. Independence concerns Under the white paper, the BBC Trust is to be abolished and replaced with a unitary [...]
Google says payday loans are just as bad as drugs and guns May 12, 2016 Payday loans are as bad as drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods, Google has said, adding them to its list of items banned from being advertised on its search engine. Lenders offering payday loans will be banned from advertising anywhere on Google across the globe, the search giant has said, signalling another nail in the coffin [...]
ITV says Brexit has sparked “uncertainty” in the UK advertising market May 12, 2016 ITV is on track for good profit growth, despite the slow UK advertising market as a result of Britain's possible untangling from the European Union. It said that advertising revenue is expected to be "broadly flat" in the first half of 2016, having slumped 13 per cent last month. "ITV is now a much stronger and more [...]