Even as newspaper financial results fall off a cliff, readership is staying fairly stable, according to new data from the Readership Institute. Overall U.S. newspaper readership, including young readers, declined only slightly since 2006, with readers generally loyal, "engaging" the paper five times a week. Institute director Mary Nesbitt says the results are surprising, since "the imminent demise of newspapers seems to be all we ever hear about. Readers aren't deserting local newspapers at anything approaching the rate that advertisers are," Newspaper readers spend an average of 27 minutes with the daily paper and 57 minutes …

British newspaper publisher Guardian News and Media purchased ContentNext, owner of PaidContent.org, for $30 million, Guardian's first acquisition outside of Britain. "It will augment our coverage of the media [industry]," says Tim Brooks, head of Guardian News, which publishes The Guardian and The Observer. The company is looking at the United States as expansion territory, opening a Washington D.C. bureau and creating an American version of its home page last year. ContentNext publishes four blogs covering the global digital and mobile content industries, with spinoff sites for India and Britain. It also sponsors seminars and conferences …

Cooking Light magazine has formed a partnership with Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants revolving around health and wellness. The deal is starting with discounted room rates for Cooking Light readers and Kimpton venues for Cooking Light "Supper Club" events, with plans for expansion. Magazine brands are increasingly using brand extensions, outside partnerships and licensing deals, but finding the right partner and program remains a challenge. Niki Leondakis, senior exec at Kimpton, says the hotel chain has a higher percentage of female guests than the industry average and nearly 84% of Cooking Light's readers are women. "Smaller hotel chains …

The home video business seems to be holding up despite the down economy, the high price of gas and consumer shift toward the Internet. Showing that people are still willing to pay for offline entertainment at home, purchases and rentals of DVDS and Blu-ray inched up 1.6% in the first half of 2008 compared to last year, per Home Media magazine. Disc purchases rose 1.1%, to $6.9 billion and rental spending rose 2.6% to $3.9 billion. Wall Street has negative perceptions of the packaged media business because "most analysts are techno-geeks with plenty of money and not …

BBC television show "Little Britain" is bringing its satirical humor to HBO on Sept. 28, drawing on stars such as David Schwimmer and Rosie O'Donnell to lure U.S. audiences. With its sketches featuring cross-dressing, an incoherent teenager and flamboyant gays, "Little Britain" has spawned video games, talking dolls and numerous catch phrases in the UK. "Little Britain" creators admit that will have to learn how far they can push their risky jokes and trademark mockery of the disabled, poor, gay and fat people. The show is the latest comedy import to the U.S., following programs like NBC's …

Rupert Murdoch said Thursday that he sees another year of "bad shocks" for the economy and does not expect a turnaround in 2009. Murdoch has been among the most pessimistic of the world's media moguls, warning that ad slowdowns on local television stations and newspapers will severely impact the media businesses. "There will be are more lowering of values, companies selling assets," he said at the Allen & Co Sun Valley gathering of media and technology executives. Murdoch also said that Europe is starting to feel the economic slump and will be hurt further in another six months. …

A reader of the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., is suing the paper for cutting its staff and issue size without warning subscribers. Keith Hempstead, a lawyer and former reporter at another paper, says he's trying to make a statement about how newspaper loyalists feel cheated when companies cut back the amount of news and get rid of staff. More interesting than the suit is the attitude of News & Observer executive editor John Drescher in his response. "We've had some really good papers recently, and they're worth more than the 36 cents a day that Mr. …

A U.K. study shows that viewers identify with brands that sponsor their favorite TV show--more so than they bond with brands that run traditional TV spots. New research by Thinkbox shows that TV sponsorships capitalize on a viewer's feelings about a program; the stronger the feelings the stronger the emotional connection with the brand. A sponsorship can increase a sense that the brand is "for me" by as much as 12% and boost intent to purchase by up to 9%, per the research. Brands can also adopt the personalities of the programs they sponsor, a phenomenon that researchers …