Media&Marketing: As potential suitors are sounded out about buying shares in TV3, the station this week received some mixed news on viewing figures.
One of the key measures, how much television people are watching, rose for the first time in many years in 2005. Irish people are now watching 18 hours and 40 minutes on average a week. On the surface this is good news for all TV companies, among them TV3.
But the problem for TV3 is that viewing by younger viewers is shrinking. Young viewers, generally categorised as those between 15 and 34, are watching only half the amount of television they watched in 1998. Most observers blame three factors for this - games systems, DVDs and iPods.
This week Initiative, the Dublin agency, claimed TV3's national share was down 5 percentage points based on a national audience in 2005, while one of its rivals, TG4, managed to push up its market share. However BBC, UTV, Sky One and Channel 4 also suffered falls.
The younger demographic is an important audience for the station which it wants to protect from the likes of Channel Six.
Lucrative advertising revenue tends to follow younger audiences, more so on television than almost any other medium.
The agency however said it was not encouraged by the idea of ITV plc taking over the whole of TV3.
"Viewers would be likely to be subjected to even more simulcasted programming and there are fears that Ireland may become little more than an additional ITV region," it said this week.
The sale process is proceeding in London, but there is still no clarity about whether ITV will make a bid for the whole company. It has valuable pre-emption rights, but it is understood ITV might also sell its shares if a very willing buyer came forward.
At present the boutique London investment house Hawkpoint Partners are handling the sale. A brief "teaser" document has been sent to interested parties and a fuller sales prospectus is being prepared.
Google tops poll
While its decision to censor content in China means it is unlikely to win accolades for freedom of speech, the Google brand appears to be very durable -at least for now.
Google has emerged as the most influential brand on the planet, according to an annual survey by online branding magazine brandchannel.com. The maker of the hugely successful iPod music player, Apple came in second. The global poll queried more than 2,500 branding professionals and students.
AFA O'Meara, the Dublin agency which has studied the results, was as surprised as many others to find Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera named as the world's fifth most influential brand.
New brands included in this year's list included Skype and Zara, the Spanish fashion chain.
'Daily Mail' launch
The Daily Mail is planning to spend €1 million on a marketing campaign for its new Irish edition which is expected to launch shortly, possibly within a fortnight. Several journalists have already been recruited, including the former editor of the Irish Catholic, David Quinn.
Martin Clarke, the former editor-in-chief of Ireland on Sunday, is expected to arrive in Dublin within days to oversee the final preparations for the launch.
Sub-editors and reporters from the UK are also expected to travel to the Dublin office.
In recent days, filming has been taking place for a television advertising campaign, which will be used to support the paper.
Television advertising campaigns are relatively rare for Irish newspapers, so the decision to fund such a campaign suggests Associated Newspapers is prepared to make a substantial investment.
Advertisers, while not being told very much, are getting increasingly curious about the paper.
Some say sales could reach 45,000 in the first few months, but others are saying 20,000 is about the best Associated Newspapers can expect.
The amount of advertising in the first few editions is likely to be low, with Associated concentrating more on getting the paper on the streets.
The agencies have yet to get an official rate card from Associated Newspapers Ireland. Ireland on Sunday, the sister paper, charges (at rate card values) almost €12,000 for a full colour page.
'Journal' deal
This week the Wall Street Journal (Europe) signed a printing deal with the Midland Tribune group. It will help the US newspaper to circulate its paper more easily in the main towns and in the IFSC.
The cost of the printing deal has not been disclosed, but it kicks in from early next month. Clearly the paper's European staff believe it will pay off, but at present the title is operating from a low base in Ireland.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations the paper sells 552 copies in Ireland at present.
This is from a total European circulation of 86,539. Interestingly, the biggest buyers of the paper are the British, where an average of 16,488 copies are sold each day.
Emmet Oliver can be contacted at eoliver@irish-times.ie
