Seventy-six percent of adult consumers read direct mail advertising, according to the Vertis Customer Focus: Direct Marketing 2005 survey, released at a media luncheon here yesterday.

Actor Michael J. Fox is returning to TV - in a commercial praising Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for his stance on stem cell research.

WPP Group PLC is believed to be well placed to win the advertising account of Intel Corp, after the world's largest microchip maker announced a review of its 300 mln usd advertising account it has with France's Havas, The Times reported.

A new website has been set up for advertisers by TV planning agency Guerillascope that offers instant access to Barb TV viewing figures so they can tell how successful campaigns have been.

In last night's debate, Vice President Dick Cheney seemingly scored points when he referred to a nickname for his opponent coined by what he called Sen. John Edwards' "hometown newspaper." The paper, he said, had called Edwards "Senator Gone," a barb aimed at the senator's absence from a number of Senate floor votes.

Hollinger International said yesterday that executives of The Chicago Sun-Times, which it owns, had overstated the newspaper's average circulation by as much as 11.6 percent as part of a scheme to defraud advertisers that began in 1998 and eluded discovery until last spring.

The chairman of French advertising group Publicis on Tuesday said it would be best if its smaller rival Havas remains independent and said Publicis is not dreaming of a merger of the two groups.

Credit default swaps on French advertising agency Havas fell on takeover speculation yesterday, while the wider European corporate bond market was little changed.

Howard Stern announced Wednesday that he is taking his morning radio show to satellite radio. Stern will join Sirius Satellite Radio starting January 2006 in what is being billed as a five-year, multimillion dollar contract. Calling satellite radio "the next big thing," Stern said on his morning radio show that commercial radio is no longer a safe haven for shock jocks like him.

The MSN TV 2 is the firm's latest foray into the battle to dominate the digital living room.