New Media Age articles from December 2003

New Media Age archives from December 2003

Sky boosts interactive TV by slashing ad rates.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Sky has given a boost to the interactive TV advertising industry by slashing the price of campaigns by almost a third. The new pricing policy will come into effect from the start of the new year in a move which the satellite giant...

Ad industry says 2004 will be year for more spending.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Industry debates over the best methods to build brand awareness on the Internet look set to come to a head in early 2004 as advertisers increase their spend on Internet advertising. Contributors to NMA/Advertising this month say there's...

Premium SMS industry under threat from EC plan.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The premium SMS industry is facing its biggest threat yet, as the European Commission prepares to classify all forms of premium SMS as e-money. This would effectively outlaw all mobile content, from ringtones to games, unless operators make the...

Adult services in breach of shortcode rules face closure.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The start of the new year could see swathes of premium SMS services shut down for failure to move to dedicated numbering ranges for adult content. In June, the Mobile Data Association launched an initiative requiring all adult services to...

YooMedia and Sportingbet agree on interactive TV deal.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Interactive TV and mobile entertainment company YooMedia will take online sports betting and casino operator Sportingbet onto iTV in the new year after the two companies agreed a three-year deal. YooMedia will develop ah iTV gambling...

Gamestar adds multi-screen video streaming.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Sky is overhauling its Gamestar interactive TV gaming portal in the next few days, giving it the eight-screen streaming media interface already used across its interactive news and sports channels. The revamped video-based Gamestar portal...

Vodafone launches funding plan to develop Live! content.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Vodafone has launched a major initiative to provide funding to content owners wishing to launch on Vodafone Live! and for existing partners to improve their services. Vodafone Academy has been developed to boost the usability and...

Lastminute to use contextual Espotting listings.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Travel and entertainment e-tailer Lastminute.com has appointed Espotting to place context-targeted listings on the exit pages of four of its travel channels in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. It'll place listings from the search...

IAB staffs up for stronger lobbying over BBC review.(BBC Online Review; Interactive Advertising Bureau )(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The Interactive Advertising Bureau is staffing up in a bid to bolster its assault on the BBC during Philip Grafs review of its online activities. The new media industry body has taken on lobbyists and an econometric analyst to inform...

This is Money seeks tool partnerships.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... This is Money, ANM's personal finance site, is seeking partnerships with third-party tools developers to increase its range of services. Content and services are being expanded following the arrival of Guy Dresser as This is Money editor....

T-Mobile reports 5m monthly users for t-zones.(Breaking)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... T-Mobile's multimedia service t-zones has reported nearly 5m unique active users each month across its five European markets and the US. The operator said the contribution from non-voice services to average revenues per user had risen from 14%...

Getronics to be technology supplier for Davis Cup.(Breaking)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Technology firm Getronics has signed a three-year agreement with the International Tennis Federation to be the official new media and technology provider for the Davis Cup. Getronics will adapt its 3D tracking technology to support a new Speed...

Sporting Index launches mobile Java betting service.(Breaking; collaboration with Mfuse)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Sporting Index has become one of the first major gambling firms to launch a mobile Java gambling service available on mass-market handsets. It has joined with technology firm Mfuse to offer real-time spread service Bet On the Move. ...

0fcom to source low-cost expert advice panel.(Breaking)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Ofcom is to create a panel of experts on whom it can call for research advice and support at a discount rate. The Ofcom Supplier Panel will consist of firms that specialise in areas ranging from telecoms to broadcasting and new media. The...

Ocado offers preset shopping for Christmas items.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Online grocery service Ocado has launched a Christmas shopping section on its site which is divided into key areas such as 'Christmas lunch' and 'turkeys'. The supermarket is guaranteeing one-hour delivery slots until 3pm on Christmas Eve, but...

Sony Pictures teams up with Warner for SMS film promotion.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Sony Pictures and Warner Village have teamed up to launch an SMS campaign this weekend to support the cinema release of SWAT. The campaign, developed and managed by Mobileway, encourages consumers to visit their local cinema with the SMS offer...

T-Mobile launches Terminator 3 Screen-Style mobile interface.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... T-Mobile has launched Trigenix's Terminator 3 Screen-Style mobile user interface, enabling subscribers to change the interface of their handset. The product includes a themed menu, polyphonic ringtone, wallpaper, images and links to other...

Virgin Mobile runs online viral featuring Busta Rhymes.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Virgin Mobile is running a fresh online viral campaign, coinciding with a TV campaign featuring Busta Rhymes. The ads shows the hip-hop star getting into difficult situations in order to promote Virgin Mobile's 3p-per-text-message tariff. It's...

Google faces criticism for search ranking changes.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The latest changes made by Google to the way it ranks Web pages have drawn a strong reaction from the search engine marketing (SEM) community, underlining its dominance in the market. SEM companies are paid by advertisers to ensure that...

Sports Interactive to push non-football game online.
December 4, 2003... Sports Interactive, the games company behind the massively successful Championship Manager, is promising heavy online activity for its first non-football game. Last week it signed a global publishing deal with Sega for its ice hockey game,...

Freeserve launches Java content.(from Mobilista)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Freeserve this month becomes the second portal to launch a branded Java mobile content portal from Mobilista. The portal will enable Freeserve to establish a permanent dynamically updated presence on consumers' handsets. The Mobile Content...

Lamtara rebrands as 2ergo for entry into US market.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Mobile interactive services company Lamtara has rebranded as 2ergo and launched into the US. The company has launched the new brand name both to reflect its international growth and to reflect the success of the company since its launch in...

PC suppliers reject call to pre-install filtering software.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The Government's Internet taskforce is calling for PC retailers and manufacturers to pre-install filtering and monitoring software on computers sold for home use, in a bid to improve child safety. But organisations that have been...

GamCare to train Betfair's staff.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Betfair is to insist its staff undergo training from GamCare, the organisation which promotes responsible gambling, before they can deal with the public. Under a scheme unveiled last week, GamCare will run seminars and workshops for...

Football authorities police sites over photo copyright.(Fotopic site closed down)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Football authorities are clamping down on amateur photography sites, claiming photos taken inside grounds by fans breach copyright. Cardiff City FC recently forced one site, Fotopic, to take down pictures taken inside its Ninian Park...

Oplayo makes move into US market.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Mobile video company Oplayo has made its first move into the US. The company has formed a distribution deal with Moftware, a company that runs successful mobile content portals and has deals with the country's major mobile networks. ...

BBC uses Jensen Button for iTV marketing campaign.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The BBC has launched a marketing campaign this week featuring F1 racing driver Jensen Button in a bid to promote its revamped 24/7 interactive TV portal. The Corporation hopes that the association between the driver's surname and the red button...

Disability Rights Commission's report delayed until spring.(UK's Disability Discrimination Act)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The Disability Rights Commission's report into accessibility level among 1,000 UK Web sites will now not be published till the spring. The organisation, which is responsible for ensuring compliance with stipulations laid down in the Disability...

Times Online dedicates page to Jonny Wilkinson.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Times Online has given England rugby hero Jonny Wilkinson his own dedicated presence within its Web site after the fly-half's success in the recent Rugby World Cup. Wilkinson has been a writer for the print edition for the past year and his...

Freeserve reappoints OTC to power travel channel.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Portal Freeserve has reappointed Online Travel Corporation (OTC) to power its travel channel on exclusive basis. Previously, Freeserve used both OTC and Travelselect, part of Lastminute. Now OTC is the exclusive provider. OTC said the...

Thomas Cook follows site relaunch with ad campaign.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Thomas Cook is mounting a fresh attack on the lead of pure-plays like Lastminute and Expedia. It's launching a cross-media ad campaign promoting its sites for the first time in more than a year, following the relaunch of thomascook.com...

THQ revamps site for data capture.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Games developer and publisher THQ is stepping up its data capture activities with a revamped Web site. The company says it wants to create a new direct marketing and research capability. With this in mind it's introduced a three-step...

AOL says no content for 1Mb broadband till 2004.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... AOL has launched a 1Mb broadband service this week, but potential customers could face a year-long wait until purpose-built content is available. The UK ISP announced its high-speed DSL service on Monday, which is priced at 34.99 [pounds...

Diary.(Calendar)
December 4, 2003... 8-9 December 2003 Advanced Intranet Communications London 020 7970 4799 centaur-conferences.co.uk 9 December 2003 eBC2003: Marketing in the eSociety Surrey 01483 686300 smsss.surrey.ac.uk/ebc2003 ...

Flightstore to list on AIM.(Finance)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Flightstore, an in-flight intranet firm, is hoping to list its shares on the stock market by the end of next week. The firm has developed an onboard e-commerce system for commercial airlines which allows passengers to buy goods through their...

In-Fusio buys up Cybiko.(Finance)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... In-Fusio, the Bordeaux-based mobile games firm, has bought US rival Cybiko for an undisclosed cash sum. Cybiko's biggest success to date has been Moto GP. Its games will now get worldwide distribution via In-Fusio, which is to keep the Cybiko...

Themutual.net sees profits drop by 20% over past year.(Finance)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Profits at online marketing company Themutual.net have slipped back by 20% over the past year to 219,000 [pounds sterling] for the six months to the end of October. The company said this was because of the costs associated with the acquisition...

Virtue Broadcasting to buy majority stake in Kamera.(Finance)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Streaming media company Virtue Broadcasting is to buy a majority stake in Kamera, a Swedish Web-casting firm. The deal comes after several months in which Virtue has been looking to buy up corporate communications firms. Kamera's customers...

Earthport will file law suit against Egg by end of year.(Finance)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Earthport, the electronic payment services company, says its seven-figure law suit against Egg will be launched before the end of the year. The claim dates back to work Earthport did for the online bank in 2000 and 2001. The payment firm's...

Newsplayer secures 1m [pounds sterling] from Japanese investor.(Finance; Strategic Investment Asia Group )(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Newsplayer, the loss-making online media company backed by Sir David Frost, has secured a 1m [pounds sterling] cash injection from a Japanese investment house. The money from Strategic Investment Asia Group (SIAG) should be available to...

BBC puts technology arm up for sale.(Finance)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The BBC's decision to put its technology arm up for sale has released one of the UK's biggest IT contracts onto the market, which includes the supply of hosting and streaming services for the Corporation's vast network of BBCi Web sites. ...

Gaming Corp boosts cash pile.(Finance)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Gaming Corporation, a rapidly growing online gambling firm, has boosted its cash pile in preparation for a number of acquisitions. The firm last week sold 26m new shares to outside investors and its own directors at a price of 2p per share....

Babel Media joins De Lane Lea to give audio service to games.(Technology)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Babel Media has partnered with film and audio production company De Lane Lea (DLL) to offer an audio service specifically for the games industry. The service will use DLL's ISDN link for remote recording so that games publishers can control and...

Nomad Digital Rail finishes Wi-Fi testing on UK railways.(Technology)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Nomad Digital Rail has finished testing its Wi-Fi service for the UK rail network, which will provide passengers with high-bandwidth broadband connections during travel. The trial covered 1,000km of train routes in England and Scotland, at...

BT Wholesale launches mobile email with 2PM Technologies.(Technology)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... BT Wholesale has launched a mobile email service, in partnership with 2PM Technologies, which enables customers to collect and respond to email messages from a remote location. The service, WhASP Mail Now, operates on a pay-as-you-go basis and...

Microsoft looks into alleged security holes in Explorer.(Technology)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Microsoft is investigating seven alleged security holes in Internet Explorer, which have been reported by a Chinese researcher. The vulnerabilities haven't been actively exploited but Microsoft is hurrying to patch them. Two of the holes have...

Square1 and Cumulus link to develop mobile browser.(Technology; Alto browser )(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Square1 Communications has partnered with Cumulus Technology to develop a mobile browser application that supports content services across all UK mobile networks. The Alto browser is compatible with most J2ME colour-screen handsets, is...

Antika builds software tool for DIY MMS campaigns.(Technology; 24active product)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Internet consultancy Antika has developed MMS marketing software which allows media agencies to design and build their own picture mobile campaigns without the need for technical expertise. The product, 24active, is a Web-based software...

Spamjab claims 100% protection.(Technology)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... A team of Cambridge email researchers have designed a spam filter for children, which they claim offers 100% protection against unsuitable junk email. The product, called Spamjab, is compatible with Pop3 email accounts and requires a...

Green Cathedral spins out mobile data backup firm.(Technology; Phonesync)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Technical agency Green Cathedral has launched a new mobile phone data backup company. The firm, Phonesync, has developed a technology which allows users to upload the memory from their mobile phone, including numbers, diary appointments...

Recollective completes work on D&AD site revamp.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Digital design agency Recollective has completed work on a redesign of D&AD's Web site. D&AD is the professional and educational charity for the advertising and design industries, so it was felt to be vital that the site become more 'creative...

Fish Media.(Agency Wins)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Derby-based new media solutions provider Fish Media is to redevelop the Web site for Ebiquita, the independent consumer marketing and data-suppression screening firm. Changes include the addition of a client area to let Ebiquita customers...

Hub NM.(Agency Wins; Eclectic contract)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The Hub's new media division Hub NM has been contracted to take care of Glasgow-based Eclectic's online needs. Hub NM will incorporate a microsite for each of Eclectic's divisions, business solutions and learning services. It has also created...

Poke.(Agency Wins)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Creative agency Poke has been appointed to review Jamie Oliver's personal site and the effectiveness of his online community. The work will focus on openness and accessibility to the TV chef, through chat and personal diaries. It'll view Jamie...

Fortune Cookie.(Agency Wins; Huntswood Outsourcing contract)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Design and build agency Fortune Cookie has been taken on to redevelop the site of financial body Huntswood Outsourcing. The first phase of the project will focus on translating Huntswood's new brand, developed by Citigate, online as well as...

DNA takes strategic stake in social networking site.(Agencies; Everyone's Connected)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Independent digital agency DNA has taken a strategic stake in social networking site Everyone's Connected, which it believes could be as popular as Friends Reunited. Everyone's Connected is the UK's leading site in the online social...

Brainstorm solution eases MMS ads across networks.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Brainstorm is the latest firm to offer a solution enabling agencies to run cross-network MMS campaigns. The company has developed a service whereby MMS campaigns can be delivered to any user's phone without relying on today's clumsy...

Gyro buys into new media with Cozai.(Agencies; GyroGroup )(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Integrated brand communications agency GyroGroup has widened its remit to include new media after taking over UK digital agency Cozai. Cozai was a four-strong boutique new media agency specialising in design and build, Web management tools...

Domino launches integrated skills service offering.(Agencies; HAUS)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Digital design and build specialist Domino Systems has launched a new integrated offer combining the skills of accessibility, usability and search engine optimisation as one offer. The new client package is called HAUS, denoting a holistic...

GMTV runs seasonal MMS tie-in with top supermarkets.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... GMTV has launched a Christmas MMS campaign in association with nine of the UK's supermarkets. The campaign provides a special Christmas best-buys service which will be rolled out in the new year to provide a dedicated content for...

Children's charity employs viral to attract fundraisers.(Marketing; National Deaf Children's Society )(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The National Deaf Children's Society is using a viral game to recruit fundraisers. It has commissioned agency Panlogic to produce the game, at beenthere.org.uk, which presents a map of the world and takes users to different locations,...

Freeserve signs partners to widen pan-European offer.(Marketing; Web.de and Libero.it)
December 4, 2003... The growing demand from advertisers to run campaigns on a pan-European basis has prompted Freeserve owner Wanadoo to team up with Web.de in Germany and Libero.it in Italy to compete with rivals MSN, Yahoo! and AOL. Freeserve said the...

BBC plugs pre.school 'Bob the Builder' CD-Rom online.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... BBC Multimedia, part of BBC Worldwide, is running an online marketing drive for its Bob the Builder PC CD-Rom Bob's Castle Adventure, which is aimed at pre-school children. Agency Swordfish has booked AOL.co.uk, Ntlworld.com, Tesco.net and...

Digital Impact warns of boom in email levels over Christmas.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Email marketing company Digital Impact is warning advertisers to be mindful of the vast increase in the volume of emails received by consumers in the weeks before Christmas and make their emails stand out. The company claims the volume of...

Orange launches competition on MMS to find best expression.(Marketing)
December 4, 2003... Mobile phone network Orange has launched a Web-based competition asking users to send in their best examples of different facial expressions via MMS. The 'Expressionist' promotion, devised by agencies Fullsix and Poke, is being promoted via...

12% of electrical goods will be bought online this Christmas.(Trends; according to IMRG's e-Christmas portal)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Up to 12% of electrical goods will be bought online this Christmas, according to figures released by the IMRG's e-Christmas portal. The industry body predicts that British shoppers will have spent 2.1bn [pounds sterling] buying electrical goods...

Majority of online games purchases are by women.(Trends)(according to Eleventeenth)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Up to 80% of online video game purchases are made by women, reveals a survey by new media agency Eleventeenth. The Yorkshire-based company's monitoring of sites including game.co.uk in September found that on average over half--45%-55%--of...

Polyphonic ringtones drive WAP hits upwards.(Trends)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Mobile WAP page impressions continue their steady rise, with October figures showing them hit 897m. This takes the daily average to 29m, compared to 11m a day in October 2002. The increasing take-up of polyphonic ringtones is a major...

Voice market to triple in value.(Trends)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The global voice application market will more than triple in value by 2007, forecasts Datamonitor. It expects the market, which includes applications from directory assistance to voice authentication and interactive entertainment, to grow to...

Christmas e-commerce in Europe to approach 7bn [euro].(Trends)(according to Jupiter Media)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Online consumer spending in Europe this Christmas is likely to top 6.6bn euro] (4.5bn [pounds sterling]), almost doubling 2002's figure. Internet research company Jupiter Media says shoppers spent 4.5bn [euro] (3.1bn [pounds sterling])...

1 in 10 Web users will be shoppers this December.(Trends)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... More than one in ten Web visits in December will be to a retail site, predicts a report from Hitwise. The 12-month study of UK Internet users revealed that the online shopping sector represents 8.7% of all visits to the Internet, an...

Non-food retailers not making most of Web for sales.(Trends)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Almost half of the top non-food retailers in the UK don't have a transactional Web site and are failing to address the need for multichannel selling, says a new report. E-commerce consultancy Qtec surveyed 130 non-food retailers in the UK...

Chat and media applications play big part in Web take-up.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... The use of instant messaging, file-sharing and media players is making a significant contribution to worldwide growth in Internet use. A new report from Web analysis firm Nielsen//NetRatings reveals that the amount of time people spend...

Web read more than magazines.(Trends)(according to European Interactive Advertising Association)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Using the Internet has overtaken reading magazines in terms of media consumption, suggests research from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA). The Europe-wide survey found the Internet now accounts for 10 % of all media...

Changing the ways we add up sales.(Analyst Speak)
December 4, 2003... I would guess that Norah Jones is doing okay financially. She seemed happy enough when I saw her play in the basement of Pizza Express in Soho a few years ago, and that was way before she became a material item in EMI Group's P&L account, went...

Time to define the BBC's online role: as public consultation for the Graf BBC Online review ended, the parties concerned explained what they thought the role of the BBC in the new media age should be.(BBC Online Review)
December 4, 2003... Former Trinity Mirror executive Philip Graf was inundated with submissions last week as the public consultation period that will inform his government-requested review of BBC Online carne to a close. As reported in NMA, the British Internet...

BBC review needs less what-if and more what-now.(Leader)
December 4, 2003... As former Trinity Mirror executive Philip Graf ploughs through the submissions to his inquiry into the role of BBC Online, one conclusion has already been reached: the BBC has distorted the market. The questions for Graf now are how much, to...

All ADSL connections count towards target.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
December 4, 2003... Francis King, press officer, BT Wholesale With reference to your front page story 'Tiscali slams BT for ignoring its broadband users' (NMA 27 November), this article arose after a BT colleague mistakenly suggested to NMA that only one in...

Customers aren't just names on a list.(Letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
December 4, 2003... Steve Masters, founder, Prize Engine Data protection is about to become big news with the regulations coming into force on 11 December. Important changes in the rules state that consumers must be informed at the point of data collection...

Inadvertent insult over shortcode use.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
December 4, 2003... Dan Bauer, business development director, Arrow Interactive With reference to your front page article 'SMS revenues hit by misuse of shared numbers' (NMA 13 November), I would like to apologise for any inadvertent aspersions cast on current...

Using the power of blogs to get close to customers.(Sleight on customer relationships)
December 4, 2003... A friend of mine who's an author with his first book about to be published was intrigued about how he could market the book through digital channels. What was clear was that, in general, publishers would utilise a tried-and-tested route to...

10 years on and still a long way to go.(Opinion)(Column)
December 4, 2003... Since the introduction of Mosaic 10 years ago, the integration of online access into every aspect of daily life has been so complete that we don't even notice it's there anymore. Because the Internet hasn't revolutionised absolutely everything,...

Heading for goal: Ron Henwood: NTL has faced some tough problems in recent years, and Rod Henwood has been in the thick of them. Now heading its online sports subsidiary Premium TV, he's clearly fond of a challenge.
December 4, 2003... At the beginning of 2003, Rod Henwood was looking forward to a bit of time off. He had a baby daughter he wanted to spend some time with and felt he deserved a break. Since 1991 he'd developed the bid for what became BSkyB, launched a dozen new...

Enpocket.(Moves)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... Enpocket, the mobile marketing solutions provider, has promoted Rob Lawson (top) to the role of senior VP and general manager for the Americas, and Peter Larsen to senior VP and general manager for Europe. Lawson is a co-founder of Enpocket and...