New Media Age articles from January 2004

New Media Age archives from January 2004

BBC sourcing of online content is 'scandalous'.(BBC Online Review)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... BBC commissioning of online content is sorely in need of revision, with only a "scandalous" 3% of the Corporation's 2m Web pages being produced by third parties, according to the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television. PACT, which...

OFT misses out major traders in e-tail soundings.(Office of Fair Trading )(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has ignored established rules of best practice by failing to invite leading e-tailers to participate in its public consultation on distance selling. The OFT has failed to publicise its consultation to...

Nielsen purchase brings single Web metric closer.(buys Red Sherrif)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Nielsen//NetRatings' decision to buy Red Sheriff has brought the holy grail of a standard Internet audience measurement system comparable to TV's BARB and radio's Rajar closer to reality. Last year, the IAB and the IPA launched a joint bid...

iTV survives Pop Idol vote but Web sees poor turnout.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Sky withstood the challenge to its interactive TV voting infrastructure posed by the Pop Idol final on ITV1 over Christmas. But online failed to fire the audience's imagination, to the extent that it's unlikely to be included in future series....

European Council to push broadband under Irish lead.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Broadband roll-out will be one of the key issues discussed by the European Council this year under the presidency of Ireland, and countries will be called to account if their market is failing. Irish communications minister Dermot Ahern has...

Gaming Channel licenses iTV services.
January 8, 2004... Avago operator The Gaming Channel has signed the first in a flurry of third-party deals that will see it providing its interactive TV gambling technology to digital channels in the first quarter of the new year. Game In TV, owned by...

Travelocity relaunches site in bid to regain lost ground.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Travelocity is hoping to fight back against rivals including Expedia and Orbitz with a relaunch and its biggest ad campaign to date. The travel portal, which has struggled in the past two years, losing ground to rivals, is relaunching its...

Netcraft launches security tool for online banking.
January 8, 2004... Internet services firm Netcraft has launched a new service which it claims will help UK banks tackle the growing problem of online fraud. Last year saw several high profile attacks on UK banks, typically involving an email sent to customers...

ITV brings interactive services to This Morning.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... ITV has this week added interactive services to daytime show This Morning. It's the latest programme to get red button enhancements as the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster steps up its iTV strategy. Viewers can access information on...

C4 streams Shattered video to mobile.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Channel 4 has become the first UK terrestrial TV channel to stream live video footage to mobile handsets, offering round-the-clock coverage of the new reality show Shattered. While contestants compete to stay awake, the interactive division...

Roddick promoted to News Group digital sales director.(Breaking)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... News Group Newspapers, owners of Sun Online and Page3.com, has promoted David Roddick to the newly-created position of digital sales director for News Group Digital. He was previously head of strategic sales within NGN Advertising and will now...

Video-on-Demand Association appoints Filkin as chair.(Breaking)
January 8, 2004... Elizabeth Filkin, best known from her time as the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, has been appointed as the first chair of the Video-on-Demand Association. Her role will be to oversee and provide guidance to the Association's board,...

Yahoo! set to drop Google search services.(Breaking)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Portal Yahoo! is reportedly preparing to dump Google as its provider of its main Web search service. The move had been widely anticipated since Yahoo! bought out Web search technology company Inktomi in 2002, followed by Overture in July....

Online gaming sector hits highs and lows over holiday.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... The Christmas period has seen sharp differences emerge in the online gaming sector, with one major high street chain pulling its subscription service while a rival claimed a significant increase in demand. High street retail chain Game has...

Noras plans move to other online areas.
January 8, 2004... Organisers of the online recruitment industry's combined survey of user demographics and site visitor figures are looking to take the tool to other sectors of Internet business specifically property, travel and sport. The next annual...

BBC Technology misses out on NHS Digital TV service.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... The BBC's technology arm, which is currently up for sale, was one of those to miss out on the multimillion pound Department of Health contract to develop an NHS Digital TV service. The contract was instead handed to a consortium which...

Tumbleweed to settle lawsuits against eBay and PayPal.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Email security firm Tumbleweed dismissed its patent lawsuits filed against eBay and PayPal at the start of the week, and the companies have agreed to settle with a patent cross-licensing agreement. The lawsuits were initially filed on 7 May...

Midland Expressway promotes M6 Toll Road via Multimap.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Midland Expressway is delivering regionally-targeted ads, pushing its M6 Toll Road, into mapping site Multimap.com. Banners, which will appear when users search for locations close to the recently opened motorway north of Birmingham, link to...

Norwegian firm awarded license for m-banking service.(Contopronto)
January 8, 2004... Norwegian firm Contopronto has been awarded an e-banking license for payments and money transfers through a mobile phone. The company has already launched a domestic one year pilot with companies including McDonalds and plans to expand...

Lee Evans launches site.
January 8, 2004... Comedian and actor Lee Evans is launching his official online message board tomorrow (Friday). Evans will himself log on to the site at 3pm to directly answer fans' questions. The site was built by digital agency Syzygy for its client Off The...

Tiscali claims cheaper broadband than BT Yahoo!(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Tiscali has cut the cost of its 512kbs broadband service to 24.99 [pounds sterling] a month, which it claims is 130 [pounds sterling] a year cheaper than BT Yahoo!. Its 150kbs package has been reduced to 15.99 [pounds sterling] a month with...

Gambling Bill critics to argue case to Parliament.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Critics of Government plans to relax the gambling laws are due to give evidence to Parliament today (Thursday) about the draft Gambling Bill. Proposals included in the Bill allow online casinos to be based in the UK for the first time, and...

NSPCC in online link with Alliance & Leicester.
January 8, 2004... Children's charity the NSPCC has linked up with Alliance & Leicester to take online donations through the bank's CharityPay service. The online payments system was set up by Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank. It allows debit or credit...

FindWhat and Espotting give merger extra time.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Search marketing firms FindWhat and Espotting have given themselves an extra month to finalise their merger, pushing back the earliest date on which either may pull out of the deal to 31 January. US-based FindWhat.com said it planned to buy...

Skint Records to partner YR Media.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Fat Boy Slim's record label Skint Records has formed a partnership with YR Media to develop and run mobile marketing campaigns for its stable of artists. The basis of campaigns will be dedicated mobile sections for each artist, including...

Flytxt wins accounts to run Comic Relief events.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Flytxt has announced its appointment to become the mobile technology provider to Comic Relief, following a four-way pitch. The company will be running both SMS and MMS campaigns for Sports Relief 2004 on 10 July and Red Nose Day 2005. ...

Betfair signs sponsorship deal for American Superbowl.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Betfair has signed a deal to sponsor the coverage of American Football's Superbowl tournament on the North American Sports Network. The sponsorship deal includes a free trial subscription to the network for Betfair customers and online...

Aura Play signs deal with Wordmagazine.co.uk.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Digital sales and sponsorship company Aura Play has signed a deal to sell ad space for Wordmagazine.co.uk, the online arm of the music/entertainment print magazine. Aura Play, which focuses on film, music and entertainment sites, said that it...

BlackSpider Technologies secures funds from Cazenove.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... BlackSpider Technologies, a developer of email security software, has finalised a 4.6m [pounds sterling] investment from Cazenove Private Equity. The Reading-based firm was set up in June 2002 and says that it'll use the money to fund its...

Major advertisers sign up to mobile coupon scheme.(set up by M-bar-go)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Virgin Group and northern retail chain Jacksons are the first brands to reveal their involvement in a national mobile couponing scheme to launch this summer. A number of major advertisers are also signed up to the scheme, which will see...

Bookies reject Betfair anti-cheat deals.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Traditional bookmakers have said they see no need to follow Betfair's lead after the betting exchange signed its third deal with a UK sporting body to tackle the risk of 'insider dealing' in sports betting. While other exchanges, such as...

Diary.(Calendar)
January 8, 2004... 21 January 2004 Cyberworld Security: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly London 01438 765648 iee.org/events 27-28 January 2004 Mobile Games Forum London 020 7880 0000 osneymedia.co.uk 29 January 2004 AOP Forum: Paid Content London 020 7400...

ImageState blames tough conditions for poor results.(Finance)(year ending June 30, 2003)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... ImageState, the AIM-listed digital-based stock photography company, has admitted its latest set of annual results were disappointing, blaming tough market conditions. In the year ending 30 June 2003, the company made a pre-tax loss of 3.5m...

Voss Net raises 100,000 [pounds sterling] through share placing.(Finance)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... E-learning firm Voss Net has raised 100,000 [pounds sterling] before expenses through the placing of 40m new shares at 25p each. The money will be used for additional working capital. A further 11.75m new shares have also been issued in order...

Names.co Internet has trading suspension lifted.(Finance)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... The suspension of trading in the shares of domain name and Web hosting firm Names.co Internet has been lifted, after the company sent details of a proposed reverse takeover to its shareholders. The shares were suspended on AIM on 19 December...

WiseKey closes second-round of funding at 3.9m [pounds sterling].(Finance)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... WiseKey, a European e-security firm, has closed its second financing round, raising $7m (3.9m [pounds sterling]) in the process. The investors included two Nasdaq-listed companies, several financial institutions and fund managers, as well as...

UKbetting to expand into Europe after Rivals deal.(Finance)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Gambling and content firm UKbetting is planning to target continental European markets this year, after buying Rivals Digital Media in a 2m [pounds sterling] deal over Christmas. Peter Dubens, vice chairman of UKbetting, said his company...

INVU becomes first tech company to float in 2004.(Finance)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... INVU, a UK-based electronic document management from, has become the first technology company to float on the stock market this year. The first day of dealings for the firm's shares on AIM was Tuesday. It sold over 35m shares at 8.5p each...

Sopheon secures 7m [pounds sterling] line of credit.(Finance)(from GEM Global Yield Fund)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... AIM-listed software firm Sopheon has agreed a 10m [euro] (7m [pounds sterling]) line of credit with GEM Global Yield Fund, a US-based private equity group. The agreement will allow it to force GEM to buy shares in Sopheon at a 10% discount...

FFastFill closes on 1m [pounds sterling] share placing to boost sales efforts.(Finance)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... FFastFill has conditionally raised 1m [pounds sterling] before expenses by placing 20m new shares at 5p each. The AIM-listed firm develops online trading software. The new shares represent just over 24% of its share capital. The buyers...

Macromedia switches to Java for Director MX 2004.(Technology)
January 8, 2004... Macromedia is moving away from its proprietary programming language in the latest version of Director MX 2004, and is instead offering JavaScript support so that Flash content can be easily integrated into Director presentations. The...

02 and Smartner provide mobile access to desktop.(Technology)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... 02 has partnered with the Finnish software firm Smartner to offer mobile users access to their desktop functions when on the move. The Smartner Duality Alwayson Mail software automatically forwards emails and attachments to a mobile device,...

BT Exact predicts which technologies will take off.(Technology)(including 3G mobile networks and RFID tagging for 2004)
January 8, 2004... Researchers at BT's innovation unit have cited the growth of broadband, Wi-Fi and the merger of telecoms and computing in IP networks as three of the best utilised technologies in 2003. BT Exact is predicting that 3G mobile networks, radio...

Warner Home Video sues 321 Studios.(Technology)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... British software firm 321 Studios is being sued by Warner Home Video UK for producing DVD copying software that circumvents security features in DVDs and lets customers make back-up copies. Warner has filed court action in the UK using new...

UK Online launches wireless technology pack for businesses.(Technology)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... UK Online for Business, an initiative by the Department of Trade and Industry, has launched a wireless technologies pack to help companies make use of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G and other competing technologies. The DTI is keen to promote the...

Softwrap releases new version of DRM encryption software.(Technology)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Softwrap has released the latest version of its DRM software, which offers enhanced encryption and more secure copy protection mechanisms. Version 6.0.3 allows users to purchase via a Web interface for online sales, and allows the author to...

Home Media Networks updates ShowShifter software.(Technology)( ShowShifter 3.0)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Home Media Networks, the Edinburgh-based developer of home entertainment software, has released the latest version of its ShowShifter platform. The third generation of the software, which can be downloaded, allows users to schedule, record and...

Insig launches avatar-based messaging system.(Technology)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Insig has released an avatar-based messaging system that allows content providers to deliver personalised messages to targeted users. The software combines face animation and messaging technologies so that multimedia messages can be sent across...

Mook to redesign T4 site.(Agencies)
January 8, 2004... Mook has been commissioned to design a new site for Channel 4's show T4. The site is being redesigned to tie in with the show's new on-air identity and will have a strong community element, as well as T4 programme information, competitions,...

NowWashYourHands wins pitch to develop Fox Kids quiz.(Agencies)
January 8, 2004... NowWashYourHands has won the pitch to develop an SMS quiz project for Fox Kids in Scandinavia. The Fox Kids Quiz launched on the channel recently, for which NWYH produced a template allowing the broadcaster to update quizzes regularly itself....

Spannerworks signs up new clients and new staff.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Search engine marketing agency Spannerworks has signed three new clients and taken on four new members of its team. The firm is running campaigns on behalf of Irwin Mitchell, Flight Centre and TalkTalk, the new offering from Carphone Warehouse....

@www.(Agency Wins)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Digital communications company @www has been appointed to design a new Web site for ITV2 to bring it in line with the rest of ITV's online presence. The appointment follows the launch of ITV Network's online portal home page designed by @www...

Syzygy.(Agency Wins)(London 2012 Olympic Games' web site)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Syzygy has been selected by the London 2012 Olympic Games bid company to design and build it a new Web site. The relaunched london2012.org.uk site will go live this month providing news updates and further information on developments with the...

Agencies remain cautious but look forward to 2004.(Agencies)(Industry Overview)
January 8, 2004... The agency sector is looking forward to 2004 with cautious optimism and the sense that a corner has been turned, with the excesses and unrealistic expectations of the past left behind. The heads of various agencies contacted by NMA believe...

UMI recruits following promotion for MD.(Agencies)(Universal McCann Interactive)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Media planning/buying agency Universal McCann Interactive is taking on new recruits and promoting existing staff following the promotion of MD Damian Blackden to the role of joint MD of Universal McCann at the end of last year. The...

EHS Brann to name new MD as it rationalises top jobs.(Agencies)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... EHS Brann will appoint a new MD this week, replacing Mike Horn who left in October last year. The appointment comes as vice chairman Phil Jones leaves to spend more time with his family. Jones founded Realtime and merged it with Evans...

Newsquest adopts Google ad product for London sites.(Marketing)
January 8, 2004... The Thisislocallondon.co.uk online network has become the first group in regional newspaper publisher Newsquest's stable to sign up for search engine Google's Ad Sense contextual advertising product. Newsquest says it's now earning revenue...

BHF begins Web anti-smoking ads.(Marketing)(British Heart Foundation)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... The British Heart Foundation has launched an online push to support its controversial TV ads, which show cigarettes oozing fat and dripping onto young smokers' clothes. It's backing a microsite with an online rich-media ad push aimed at...

Gallery seeks partner for e-commerce site launch.(Marketing)(Hayward Gallery)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... The Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank has said it's looking for an 'interactive partner' for its soon-to-launch e-commerce Web site. The gallery has appointed full service agency De-construct to build the site, following a competitive...

Evian launches first online marketing activity on MSN.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Bottled water brand Evian has revealed that it's running its first online advertising activity, an integrated placement on portal MSN.co.uk. Agency Carat Direct Communications and Starcom Motive planned the campaign, which includes a home page...

Nestle runs viral game campaign for Smarties bar.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Nestle is running an online viral campaign for its Smarties bar product. There's an online game, at smarties.co.uk/game, linked with the Smarties Schools Tour, aiming to drive entries to a competition in Smash Hits magazine. The game, in...

Surf offers free online time in on-pack competition.(Marketing)
January 8, 2004... Washing detergent brand Surf is running an on-pack promotional campaign offering its customers free Internet time from ISP AOL. Communications firm Dynamo is producing the campaign, called 'Net the Surf and surf the Net', which ties in with TV...

Chip & PIN likely to increase online credit card fraud.(Trends)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Credit card fraud on the internet is likely to increase with the arrival of Chip & PIN. Qtec, an e-commerce systems provider, said that Chip & PIN will have a significant impact on reducing credit card fraud in high street retail outlets, but...

High sales expected for January as bargain hunters flock to Web.(Trends)(according to Protx's estimates)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Online retailers will process over 2.3bn [pounds sterling] worth of sales this month, according to estimates by Protx. This figure is up 230% on the same period for 2003 and is seen as a sign that people are increasingly hunting for bargains...

111m wish a happy New Year via text.(Trends)(according to Mobile Data Association)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... The Mobile Data Association (MDA) has said that 111m text messages were sent on New Year's Day. That's nearly twice the 2003 daily average and an 8% increase on the previous year. Mike Short, chairman of the MDA, said, "The large number of text...

Shell tops FTSE 100 firms for Web page quality.(Trends)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Oil firm Shell has come out top in a list of FTSE 100 company Web sites ranked on quality. A report by Interactive Bureau found that while the overall standard of the 100 companies' home pages had improved, there was a core of around 30 that...

Majority of government sites fail usability testing.(Trends)(according to Porter Research and Interactive Bureau)
January 8, 2004... Sixty percent of government Web sites are in need of immediate attention to improve their user experience, finds a survey by Porter Research and Interactive Bureau. While it found that government sites had improved since 2002, there were...

M-commerce needs trust, convenience and usability.(Trends)(according to Sicap)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Retailers will use trust, convenience and usability to determine whether they should adopt mobile commerce applications. According to a survey by Sicap, a provider of mobile applications, it's essential for these three prerequisites to be...

Retail sites win over Christmas gift shoppers.(Trends)(especially Firebox and Boystuff)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... The lead-up to Christmas saw visits to retail Web sites account for more than 10% of all Internet traffic. The first week of December was the most popular time to shop online, said a report from Hitwise. Of the sites reviewed, Firebox,...

Drivers' surfing preferences vary by what car they own.(Trends)(... according to data from Nielsen//NetRatings)
January 8, 2004... The make of car that people drive can be used to determine how they behave on the Web, according to data from Nielsen//NetRatings. It found that Ford car owners prefer travel and finance sites, although, oddly, they also visit the Peugeot...

Users have high demands online.(Trends)(according to Kana Research survey)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... E-commerce sites that fail to attend to Web site efficiency run the risk of losing customers, according to a survey from Kana Research. The company found the typical customer is impatient and wants questions answered online or over the...

Preparing up for the pay-per-click boom.(Analyst Speak)(Industry Overview)
January 8, 2004... With Yahoo! buying Overture and Google flying high, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising seems like the place to be. Certainly this market is growing faster than traditional online advertising. In 2004, the UK PPC market will be worth over 100m...

What should be Ofcom's top priorities for 2004? As Ofcom launches, NMA asks the digital industry what it wants the super-regulator to focus on to improve the fortunes of new media.(Analysis)
January 8, 2004... Allow more competitive pricing at a wholesale broadband level The pricing of BT's wholesale broadband products, DataStream and IPStream, remains a burning issue for the ISP and telco industry, which is keen to avoid the margin squeeze of...

Can Ofcom bring unity to broadcasting regulation?(Leader)
January 8, 2004... What constitutes broadcasting in the Internet age is a question that has been growing in importance in recent years. But two recent events have pushed it up the agenda. The first is the rise of broadband. This is providing another...

Communication must go both ways.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
January 8, 2004... Neil Hudspeth, director, Citigate Lloyd Northover Web users are increasingly savvy and demanding. Their time online is precious and they're often very selective, with only a handful of brands trusted enough to be engaged with on a regular...

Male domain.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
January 8, 2004... Alex Daley, head, Association of Online Publishers (AOP) Struck by the absence of photos or quotes from women in a 2003 edition of NMA, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek email asking whether it was really the case that there were indeed so few...

Modern marketing ideas came out of a cereal box.(on advertising)
January 8, 2004... Even the most beautiful of relationships eventually comes to an end, and sadly mine with NMA can be no exception. I've relished my role as resident Cassandra of the agency world, but I'm packing it in for two reasons. The first is my own...

HTML no longer spells sales effectiveness.(Opinion)
January 8, 2004... HTML is on its last legs. If it was one of the Phones4U sales team, it wouldn't be qualifying for the million-pound bonus and a P45 would be in the post. Why is HTML in its death throes? Because it fails on three of the key criteria for...

All pull together: one thing sailing round the world proved to Ian Dickens was the value of teamwork, something he's been trying to convince others of in his role as CEO of the Digital Radio Development Board.
January 8, 2004... The year 2000 found Ian Dickens, an Olympus marketer of 20 years' standing, circumnavigating the globe as part of the gruelling 11-month Times Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. He describes how, in one stage measuring thousands of miles, they...

Digitall.(Moves)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... New media agency Digitall has appointed Amy Tolhurst as digital assistant, working on its portfolio of consumer and B2B clients. She previously worked at Shop Smart Television and Espotting.

Shazam.(Moves)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Shazam, the mobile music recognition company, has taken on Will Mills as head of music. He will drive the company's strategic partnerships with the music industry, and manage a team that sources music from UK and international markets. Prior to...

Randommedia.(Moves)
January 8, 2004... Digital agency Randommedia has appointed Jonathon Palmer (top) as senior project manager. He will be responsible for overseeing projects for clients including the BBC and Weight Watchers, and joins from BBC Broadcast where he was an account...

Travelocity.(Moves)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Online travel company Travelocity has appointed Robert Booth as UK MD. He launched Travelocity.co.uk in 1998 and recently led Travelocity Europe's product development and marketing teams.

Salesforce.com.(Moves)
January 8, 2004... Salesforce.com, the on-demand applications company, has recruited Bruce Culbert as senior VP and general manager of global services. He joins from BearingPoint, the business consulting and systems integration firm, where he was senior VP and...