This weeks news within the media industry seems to be directed towards the various changes which are currently under way.
To start with the bad, Channel 4's audience levels have plummeted by 11% since 2006, they have been the worst hit by dwelling numbers of viewers out of the five terrestrial channels. These channels need to find a new way of re-capturing the public, or terrestrial television is a thing of the past?
Microsoft seems to be trying to take dominance of the web, by tying up with Multimap in order to compete with Google's map utilities such as Google Earth and Google Map. They have also recently invested £117 million in the social networking site we all know, Facebook. This could allow them to reach out to specific target audiences, and find out exactly what people want.
Another internet site, Youtube has offered some of its high ranking users the ability to earn money through advertisers on their site. The scheme called AdSense could lead another step forward within V.o.D. Technology.
Recently it has been found that 68% of the UK's internet users would like to stream and download high quality movies, while only 40% would be willing to pay for this service. Ofcom's recent broadband test speeds have also proven that the majority of the population will only get 39% of their promised internet speed.
Ofcom has also been researching the effects of restricting junk food advertising aimed at a young audience. They have discovered a 20% reduction in the viewing of these sort of advertisements, the new target audience seems to be towards healthy people by advertising healthy alternatives to junk food.
Ofcom has also been auctioning off airwaves which will be freed up during the digital switch-over, making room for new things such as; new channels-including localised, high speed mobile broadband and broadband delivered through radio waves.
