• NOW TV Adds Freeview As Well As Call And Broadband Packages
    NOW TV has revealed its next set-top box and a bundle of phone calls, broadband and TV packages that can be combined in lots of different ways. Even so, the company was eager to maintain its key feature: no long-term contracts. The new box also includes the ability to pause live TV as well as the programmes you are streaming, although it's not a fully fledged Personal Video Recorder.
  • UK Consumer Confidence Slumps
    UK consumer confidence has slumped following the vote to leave the European Union, a drop that is expected to influence consumer spending -- in particular on big-ticket items -- and ad spend. The YouGov/Cebr consumer confidence index was at 111.9 for the first three weeks of June but has slumped to 104.3 in the four days since the referendum result.
  • Apple Patents Tech To Stop iPhones Recording Gigs
    Apple's patent, which illustrates how an iPhone would become temporarily disabled during a rock concert, would require an infrared transmitter to be installed at shows. When switched on, the patent says, the phone would simply display a "recording disabled" message when audience members attempt to take photographs or videos. Alternatively, a watermark or blur effect may be applied.
  • Nestle To Allow Start-Ups To Bid For Brand Briefs Through New Innovation Platform
    Nestle is set to launch an open innovation platform next month to allow start-ups to "bid" for business challenges its brands are looking to solve. Due to open in July in San Francisco, the innovation centre has been created to help it figure how it can create "powerful digital service layers" that help Nestle think about its brands beyond product.
  • Adland Fears Sharp Drop In Spend Following Brexit Vote
    Industry bosses have expressed fears that the ad market will slow sharply and European workers will find it harder to work in the UK because of Brexit. Some advertisers have already been pulling spend after sterling and stock markets slumped. Adam & Eve/DDB received a call from one U.S. client who pulled a pan-European GBP1.5m fee project because of Brexit.
  • John Lewis Announces Accelerator Short List
    The creators of Marty the Robot, a programmable walking droid that helps kids to learn about coding, are among five tech startups chosen by John Lewis to participate in the third edition of the retailer's accelerator programme JLAB.
  • Airlines, Construction, Financial Services And Property Companies Expected To Reduce Ad Spend Immediately
    Marketers are braced for a major slowdown in spending in the wake of the Brexit result, with certain industries, such as housebuilding, cancelling media spend immediately. Airlines and financial services are also expected to cut their marketing after sterling and share prices slumped. EasyJet and Foxtons have already issued post-Brexit profit warnings.
  • Agencies Reveal Clients Lack Media Skills, Clients Concerned By Agency Talent Levels
    The majority (70%) of media agencies believe companies lack media skills in-house as one in three marketers admit the quality of agency talent as their number one concern, according to a new study from ID Comms. Just 16% of media agencies showed high or very high confidence in marketers' ability to meet the challenges of the next three years.
  • One In Ten Block Ads On Mobile Devices, IAB Reveals
    One in ten UK mobile users are blocking ads, according to the IAB, which has today launched a study that further advises advertisers on how best to communicate with consumers on such devices. Tellingly, the report claims 10% of UK mobile users block ads on their devices, with "Millennials" accounting for two-thirds (63%) of this number.
  • Murdoch Praises Brexit Vote, And Donald Trump
    Rupert Murdoch has called Britain's vote to leave the EU "wonderful" and described Donald Trump as a "very able man." In his first public comments since last week's historic referendum vote, the owner of newspapers including the "Times," "Sun" and "Wall Street Journal" said leaving the EU was like a "prison break ... we're out" and suggested that a UK-US trade deal wouldn't take long to negotiate.
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