Sky boosted as customers defect from Virgin Media

LONDON - BSkyB appears to be benefiting from its spat with Virgin Media, adding almost 350,000 subscribers, giving it a total of 8.6m customers and a 20% rise, beating expectations.

In a trading update the broadcaster said it had added 90,000 new net customers after accounting for churn giving it a 17% year-on-year rise. Its churn figure, or those giving up their Sky service, had fallen to 12.1% in the three months to June 17.

Rival Virgin Media has been steadily losing customers and offering big discounts to hang onto those threatening to go. This follows from Sky withdrawing its basic package, which includes Sky News and Sky One, depriving customers of hit shows such as 'Lost', '24' and 'Battlestar Galactica'.
James Murdoch, BSkyB chief executive, said: "Our transformation continues to gather pace. Today we are adding new customers at the fastest rate since analogue switch-off; we are adding more broadband customers than any other provider; and we are the only major residential telephony provider growing its customer base.
"Looking forward, we will continue to grow our share of an enlarged sector opportunity by delivering a superior customer experience, investing in the products and services customers want and by continuing to offer exceptional value to all our customers."
BSkyB will report its preliminary results for the year ended June 30 on July 27.
The take up of ad-skipping digital video recorders continues apace and BSkyB said that there were now 2.4m customers with Sky+, an increase of 207,000 or 28%. The average revenue per customer or Arpu was also up this period by £21, rising year-on-year from £406 to £412.
The update comes in the same week that the Competition Commission confirmed its investigation into BSkyB's 17.9% stake in ITV, which will include a probe into the relationship between the satellite broadcaster and the rest of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
That announcement came two months after Alistair Darling, the then secretary of state for trade and industry, referred BSkyB's acquisition to the commission for a full investigation.

Entertainment and Retail Sites

The entertainment category has overtaken the retail category in share of Internet visits for the first time in the UK. The Hitwise shopping and classified category was the third most popular category based on UK Internet visits until early June, when entertainment claimed the position.

The multimedia category is dominated by the popular video sharing website YouTube, which accounted for 47% of category visits for the week ending 16 June.

YouTube’s UK visits increased more than seven-fold year on year in May and it currently ranks second amoung entertainment websites, behind www.bbc.co.uk

Top 10 Entertainment websites:
1. BBC
2. YouTube
3. BBC Weather Centre
4. Runscape
5. Windows Media
6. Photobucket
7. The Internet Movie Database
8. Sky Sports
9. Podshow UK
10. Miniclip Games

TV News

Channel 4 has purchased the UK rights to a Kelsey Grammer comedy in which the Frasier star plays a TV newsreader on a local US station.

In Back to You, Grammer appears as a Pittsburgh newsreader who works alongside his ex-girlfriend, played by Everybody Loves Raymond actress Patricia Heaton.

The action follows the pair's attempts to return their newscast to the top of the TV ratings.

The series, which is likely to be shown on Channel 4 next year, has been created, written and executive produced by Steven Levitan, who worked on Frasier, and Christopher Lloyd, whose credits include Frasier and The Golden Girls.

Channel 4's purchase of Back to You was unveiled today by Jeff Ford, the broadcaster's director of acquisitions, and Steve Cornish, the senior vice-president and managing director of Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution.

Earlier this month Channel 4 bought Warner Bros' comedy Big Bang Theory, a series about two "science geeks" who move in together and find themselves living next door to a sexy female neighbour. Big Bang Theory, in which the neighbour helps the two men with their hapless love lives, will make its Channel 4 debut next year.


ITV is also thought to be closing in on deals to buy Gossip Girl, a new US drama from The OC creator Josh Schwartz, and NBC's remake of The Bionic Woman, which stars former EastEnder Michelle Ryan.

In other recent deals, ITV purchased CBS series Swingtown, which features This Life actor Jack Davenport; and Cane, starring The West Wing's Jimmy Smits, which is expected to air on digital channel ITV3.


Channel Five was the first UK broadcaster to make a purchase from the latest crop of US shows unveiled at the recent LA Screenings.

Five snapped up the terrestrial and digital rights to Californication, the dark comedy in which X-Files star David Duchovny plays a struggling writer dealing with a wealthy but immoral New York family


Virgin Media TV is to plough close to £40m a year into its new channel Virgin 1.

Programming acquired for a male-skewing offering includes Terminator spin-off ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ from Warner Bros and the rights for the entire ‘Star Trek’ franchise from CBS Paramount, which equates to 624 hours of programming.

Virgin 1 has also started commissioning and has ordered UK independent Ginger TV Productions to make ‘The Leo Houlding Project’. The 8 x 60-minute series follows Houlding, a British rock-climbing prodigy, as each week he takes "five lazy men" on an adrenaline-fuelled journey.

Another commission is ‘The Real Exorcist’, from the US producer behind ‘American Chopper’, Pilgrim Films. The 60-minute, £4m observational documentary pilot is a prelude to a full series following Reverend Bob Larson, who is on a personal quest to rid Americans of their demons. It is the first time Virgin Media TV has commissioned directly from the US.

Basic Channel facts:

The channel will replace FTN on Freeview. Shows bought for Virgin 1 may also be repeated on its sister channels such as Bravo and Living. The strategy is to offer all big shows as previews, catch-ups and extra footage through Virgin Media's cable on-demand portal.

Virgin 1 will also have an ad-funded website which will stream a selection of shows and offer a selection to download, all for free. It will also have a social networking area.

Exciting Creative Executions!

Here are a few recent examples from Flash Talking of campaigns they've run for advertisers.

Which ads do you prefer? Leave a comment...

This global campaign for HSBC plays up to 6 different videos - depending on when you roll over the ad the "Now Showing" message calls a different video:
http://www.flashtalking.com/hsbccinema

Whilst this synchronised video Overlay and video MPU create a powerful brand message and an unusual combined placement for a global campaign:
http://www.flashtalking.com/hsbcoverlaympu

Samsung used a simple 300x250 placement to create a highly interactive ad. Once the main video has played users can choose from 4 more videos to experience the full power of their new i600 phone & because Flashtalking's video plays instantly everyone will get the message:
http://www.flashtalking.com/samsungi600

Nike's creative agency produced this excellent "flip-book" campaign that again combines high impact rich content (do a 360 degree turn of the boot) with video:
http://www.flashtalking.com/nikeflipbook

Video Advertising in Facebook

LONDON - Sony Pictures Releasing has today become the first UK advertiser to stream video into Facebook users' news feeds as part of a campaign to promote the release of horror film Hostel Part 2.

The media campaign, planned by Omnicom media agency Manning Gottlieb OMD, will target male Facebook users aged 18-34 with a sponsored video story.
It will also use display advertising on Facebook to target users who list movies and horror amongst their interests on their profile pages.

Clips of one of the more shocking scenes in the film will be seeded on viral sites Kontraband and Bore Me, while click to play trailers will be run over the Google content network targeting movie and entertainment channels.
Senior planner buyer at Manning Gottlieb Jonny Niren said Sony Pictures Releasing was keen to tap the continued growth in social networking as a way to direct trailers at a specific audience.

New Expandable Format from TangoZebra

Check out the new expandable format from TangoZebra on FHM. The format works once clicked on and pushes the page down resulting in an ad being shown.

Fox seeds online game for DVD release

Platform: Internet | Author: Greg Brooks | Source: NMA magazine | Published: 31.05.07

Email article | Printer Friendlymore NewsTwentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is using an online game to promote the latest DVD release of its highly successful show Prison Break.

The game, created by Greenroom Digital, is designed to appeal to men by recreating a scene from the show where the character T-Bag is handcuffed to a radiator and forced to rip through stitches that are holding his hand on in order to escape from the police.

The game supports the launch of the Prison Break series 2 part 1 DVD. It's being seeded through forums, online PR and bought placements on sites including Boreme and TTR2.

Fox HE is also promoting the release of Ameri-can Dad series 2 on DVD with a series of vodcasts featuring unseen content. They'll be available for download via iTunes with links from the Fox TV DVD site.