A bigger London can be an even better London January 5, 2016 London is already Europe’s largest city, with a population in excess of 8.6m. The Greater London Authority expects this figure to climb to 11.3m over the next 25 years, but a fascinating report by Oxford Economics says that the GLA has underestimated the continuing boom, and that our city’s population will reach 12m by 2050. The [...]
Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife and Eastenders: Here’s how much timeshifted Christmas TV we watched on catch-up services January 4, 2016 It may have been the classic Queen’s speech which got us tuning in on Christmas day, but it was Downtown Abbey and Call the Midwife which we settled down to watch on catch-up in the days afterwards, as we continued to stuff ourselves with festive food. Britain’s on-demand TV habits meant that both the popular dramas, on ITV [...]
The biggest marketing trends for 2016 according to the industry’s leading figures January 4, 2016 MESSAGING WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY PERSONALISED – Matthew Heath, chairman and chief strategy officer at Lida. Messaging will become more and more personalised. Our ability to target consumers in segments of tens or hundreds of thousands, right down to the individual, has been something marketers have long talked about. But the right technology hasn't been available. Now, [...]
Flickr and Slack founder Stewart Butterfield on starting one of the fastest growing startups ever January 4, 2016 "I lived in Cambridge in the late 1990s, and even then they were working on Silicon Fen,” says Stewart Butterfield. We’re talking about replicating Silicon Valley because, as the founder of Flickr and now team collaboration tool Slack, he’s well placed to comment. And it’s not that he’s picking on Cambridge; the point is that [...]
Downton Abbey and Strictly Come Dancing beaten by Queen’s message to top of Christmas TV ratings December 26, 2015 Downton Abbey pipped Strictly Come Dancing to the title of most watched Christmas Day TV show this year – although neither programme could match the audience for the Queen's speech. The final of hit ITV period show Downton Abbey received an audience of 6.6m from its 8.45pm showing, beating competition from the hour-long EastEnders Christmas special which was [...]
All I want for Christmas is…: Christmas gift requests on Twitter reveal Apple, Nike and Victoria’s Secret as most popular brands December 24, 2015 What did you put on your wishlist this year? Thanks to the wonders of technology, we may be able to guess. Santa may be making his list and checking it twice, but as for the rest of us, we seem to be making our lists and then tweeting them twice. As social media analytics firm [...]
Northern Powerhouse: The North’s digital economy is booming but needs more infrastructure spending December 23, 2015 This year has seen the potential of the Northern Powerhouse truly realised and our digital sector sits at the beating heart of this agenda. The North’s digital economy is booming. It employs over 170,000 people and there has been a 57 per cent rise in new digital companies over the past three years. The UK’s [...]
Five charts that show how millennials’ Christmas celebrations differ from traditional ones December 23, 2015 Gearing up for a Christmas dinner with pudding, turkey and all the trimmings? Let us take a stab and guess that you’re 35 years or older. As it turns out, where you’ll be spending your Christmas day reveals more than you might think about your age. Not to mention what you’re putting on the table [...]
ITV share price falls as Comcast pours cold water on NBCUniversal takeover talks December 22, 2015 US cable company Comcast has poured cold water on speculation it's in talks for its entertainment arm NBCUniversal to takeover the UK's biggest broadcaster, ITV. ITV's share price closed nearly three per cent down on Monday, after a news report suggested the two companies had discussed a potential deal. It lost most of those gains, opening as [...]
Charing Cross is the London train station with best mobile internet performance: Victoria biggest loser in ranking of reliability and speed December 22, 2015 Does your phone lose internet connection at train stations? If you usually travel from Charing Cross, probably not – but the struggle is real for travellers who often have to make their way across Victoria station, after a new study revealed it's the London train station with the worst mobile internet performance. Charing Cross beat the competition both in [...]