Watch This Space, Issue 35

Lots to talk about this month, and all of it massively exciting. You lucky people.......

DAB Hands

DAB listenership in the UK has been shown to be growing far faster than the analogue equivalents. 28.4% of the population now listen to DAB radio, between them listening for 153 million hours each week, accounting for one sixth of all radio listening hours.
Captain Kickback says: "We're still a long way from a national switchover from analogue to digital radio. For one thing, unlike television, there's no bit of kit that can turn a normal radio into a DAB, and it's a big ask to expect 75% of the population to throw away all their stereo equipment. Particularly when most of us still have a record player gathering dust somewhere. However, the impressive growth of DAB's audience, and the huge investment in digital and online broadcasting from the likes of the BBC are making a substantial difference in the way radio is consumed."

Superheroes online

Obviously taking their cue from the smashing new Space and Time Media website, Marvel Comics have announced a decision to publish its back catalogue online. Attempting to capture the attention of the latest generation of consumers and capitalise on the success of recent film adaptations, Marvel.com is opening its lycra-clad doors to the world at a subscription cost of around £5 per month. Rival publishers DC have already leapt into the digital unknown by publishing issues of their comics on MySpace.

Eggs FM

More radio, and even more superheroes (it's as if they planned it all just for me), as XFM has recently opened a fourth regional station, this time in South Wales, amid a superhero-themed promotional campaign. Boasting a line-up that includes Rhys and Eggsy from Goldie Lookin' Chain, as well as former Stereophonics hairdo Stuart Cable, the station launched on November 29th. First launched as an independent in London before being acquired by GCAP, XFM is now available in Manchester and Glasgow and targets a young, relatively upmarket audience.
Captain Kickback says: "Although delivering a valuable, niche audience, listening figures tend to be comparatively small across all three of the existing XFM platforms, and doubtless this will also be the case in South Wales, given the strength of Red Dragon and Real Radio Wales."

BT Getting Crafty

They've been on my list for years, but BT are about to make themselves pretty unpopular across the country, as plans are announced to put "unskippable" advertisements into the films available to download from the BT Vision online download store. Eventually this irritation will be rolled out to include all of BT's On Demand Television.

Captain Kickback says: "We knew it would happen eventually! For each new bit of technology that someone invents, someone else will find a way to make money out of it. However this has distinct advantages for the advertiser- the relatively small audience, for example, will allow quite a low buy-in cost and thereby make 'television' advertising possible for advertisers who might otherwise have been lacking in funds."

Trouble at Mill

Staff at the Leicester Mercury have voted in favour of industrial action over their salary, having discovered that their colleagues at the Birmingham Post and Mail earn around £4k per year more. The precise nature of the action to be taken has yet to be decided, but with the ongoing streamlining of many news rooms and their integration with online editorial teams, we can expect to see more disgruntled hacks up and down the country.

Murdoch Wrongfoots Rightmove et al

News International has recently invested heavily in the latest online property search engine. Unlike its more established rivals, Globrix.com will not charge estate agents to register their properties, and instead will use crafty computer robots to find and list automatically every single property on sale within the uk. Establishing the website as a single source of information on property for sale is expected to create a huge level of traffic, which Globrix will use to sell advertising space in the areas surrounding the property search results: much like search engines' sponsored links.

As an additional point of difference, Globrix will allow a far greater degree of searchable detail than is available elsewhere, with users able to search according to a wide range of criteria including the property's age, the availability of parking, the garden size, and the distance from major transport links.

Captain Kickback says: "With the self-set target of leading the property website market within 12 months, this is clearly a website to keep an eye on. Obviously its users are pre-qualified as interested in buying property and, depending on the price, there's the potential for advertising within the search results to be an extremely targeted and cost-efficient medium."

That's your lot for this month, don't forget to check out the new Space and Time website at www.spaceandtime.eu.com. Unless you're reading this online, in which case, I hope you like the new Space and Time website at www.spaceandtime.eu.com.
See You Next Time!!!

Captain Kickback