... actually improved by the current trends in media.

Mr. Corty's take on the situation helped make him the WSJ's top-rated analyst in the advertising and publishing sectors this year. He was also one of the top three media stock pickers. 

Says he: ""Going back five years, there was a feeling that these agencies might get disintermediated by Google or clients placing ads directly online".

"But actually, it turns out that these agencies are more important than ever to their clients, as agencies are crucial in sorting through the increasing complexities of reaching consumers in a digital age."

Corty, who specialises in following media and advertising companies, applies lessons learned from previous roles at Morningstar, including overseeing coverage of media and internet stocks.

He joined Morningstar in 2004 and became team leader for media and internet coverage in 2007. He believes this gives him an advantage in a world where media and technology are converging.

Read the original unabridged WSJ article.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... the group of non-OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] nations.

With world output growth projected at 3.3% in 2013 and 3.7% in 2014, the forecast again points to a global recovery that is hesitant, below par, and uneven. 

NIESR summarises its projections thus:

• The world economy will grow by 3.3% this year and by 3.7% 2014, remaining below trend.
   
• In the developed world, divergence continues; the USA will grow just over 2% in each year, while the Euro Area zone remains in recession and will grow only about 1% in 2014.
   
• Unemployment remains very high in most countries, at depression era rates in some peripheral Euro Area countries.

This outlook reflects, especially in the advanced economies, weak demand resulting from several factors, especially continuing fiscal consolidation and deleveraging by private sectors, impaired credit intermediation in many cases, and significant policy uncertainties.

Of most concern is the continuing slump in the Euro Area, which is expected to remain in recession in 2013 and seems unlikely, on current policies, to experience better than weak growth next year.

In the USA, private sector demand has continued to be strengthened by a substantial improvement in the financial positions of banks and households, but this is partly offset by accelerated fiscal adjustment.

NIESR's growth projections for Japan have been raised to 2% per annum in 2013–14, taking into account the announcement of significant fiscal and monetary stimulus measures.

But the main drivers of global growth remain the developing and emerging market economies, especially in Asia; prospects seem good for a broad strengthening of growth in these economies this year and next, following the moderate slowdown experienced in 2012.

Read the original unabridged NIESR article.

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... challenges brands to grow earnings through improved marketing effectiveness and increased spending efficiencies to cut costs.”

Continued Mr Liodice: “Companies expect technology, expanding media platforms and better decision making to better enable marketers to pursue earnings growth objectives.” 

The survey found that marketers are continuing to challenge their agencies to lower costs. However, only 15% plan to cut agency compensation - a significant decrease from 2009 when 56% of marketers squeezed their agencies in this way.

Perhaps more significantly, the research also reveals that from 2013 onward marketers will focus on other means to lower costs and expenditures, including reductions on:

• Travel (58%)
   
• Internal agency expenses (55%)
   
• Advertising campaign media budgets (46%)
   
• New projects (44%)

The survey marks the seventh occasion on which the ANA has polled its members on the marketing industry's post-recession fiscal focus. The study was executed online in January 2013. Respondents included 120 client-side marketers.

Read the original unabridged ANA article.

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... single big acquisition that "wouldn’t fit Bertelsmann’s risk profile”.

The company, which last year benefited from the best-selling book Fifty Shades of Grey, currently relies on Europe for 80% of its sales. Rabe, who took office at the beginning of 2012, is overhauling Bertelsmann’s portfolio with a push into music rights, education and emerging markets. 

Says Mr Rabe: “It is our clear objective to grow the company in the next couple of years. Assuming a little bit of tailwind from a recovery in Europe, we expect to grow to €17bn this year and €18bn in the next.”

Bertelsmann’s total global sales grew 4.5% to €16bn last year, Rabe added, although his forecast doesn’t include potential acquisitions.

Operating earnings before interest and taxes from continuing operations will remain at more than 10% of revenue in coming years even as the company invests in new digital products and reorganizes its legacy businesses such as printing.

Read the original unabridged Bloomberg.com article.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... far smaller than expected because existing customers would have come to eBay regardless - whether directly or through other marketing channels."

Some leading e-commerce companies, such as eBay and Amazon.com, traditionally big buyers of Google paid search ads, may not need the service as much in the future.

According to Oren Etzioni, an online search expert at the University of Washington and co-founder of shopping search service Decide.com: "This has to be a major concern for Google."

Continued Etzioni: "Strong brands like eBay, Amazon, and others need Google less and less as they have established a loyal online following. The eBay study validates this common-sense conclusion.

"Even at the far smaller Decide.com, we've found that buying ads on Google was not cost effective."

Ebay's Hoff declined to say how much the company spends on Google paid search ads. She also would not say whether eBay has cut spending on these ads, or plans to do so.

Likewise, an Amazon spokesman did not respond to a Reuters email asking the same questions on Tuesday.

Read the original unabridged Reuters.com article.

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... "the architecture we have built is true mobile computing architecture.

"It's not a downgraded PC operating system. It is a whole new innovation built from scratch. It's built for mobile."

Despite a number of glowing reviews for the BB10 and reports of strong initial sales, some analysts and technology pundits are sceptical about BlackBerry's chances of mounting a comeback, doubting its ability to sell either enough smartphones or manage to transform the way people work.

Says John Jackson, an industry analyst at consulting firm IDC: "The [Wall] Street cares about how many units of these devices they're going to sell and that is the balancing act." 

Jackson said he can see a future in which the BB10's new operating system will allow users to control a vast array of devices, but added: "They need to sell devices to keep the lights on while they transform themselves into a next-generation computing platform." 

BlackBerry's marketing head, Frank Boulben, claims that the company is moving quickly enough to do just that.

"The vision is going to start to materialize this year," he said. "You will be able to plug the (Z10) device into a docking station at the office and then all you need is a keyboard, a mouse and a screen - combined with cloud services this would mean you don't need a laptop or a desktop."

Read the original unabridged IndiaTimes article.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... some signs of improvement, although significant downside risks remain."  

Given that global growth remains below trend at 3.3% in 2013 and 3.7 per cent in 2014, NIESR predicts that :

• World trade will grow only slightly faster and, again, below trend.
   
• The Euro Area will grow only slightly next year, while Japan is forecast to grow by 1.4 per cent, the US by 2.4 per cent, and China by 7.3 per cent.
   
• Interest rates will remain extremely low by historical standards, and inflationary pressures will remain subdued.

NIESR notes that despite some improvement in the financial markets, little has happened to address the debilitating factors that underly the world economy. It cites:

• An impaired and opaque banking system
   
• Severe fiscal austerity introduced in a synchronised way in Europe
   
• Persistent policy uncertainty despite recent improvements
   
• A widespread lack of confidence among households and firms, both of which which have been repeatedly disappointed following apparent short-term economic improvements.

Concludes the NIESR forecast: "So while risk aversion has clearly subsided in financial markets in the short term, it is far less clear that this has affected the risk appetite associated with household savings and firm's investment decisions.

"On top of this, world trade has slowed more markedly than expected, which will impede growth particularly in export-sensitive economies such as Germany and Japan."

Read the original unabridged NIESR report.

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... what they like, and who their friends are.

It does this by extending the value of the social graph and first-party data to sharply differentiate Facebook's offering from Google.  

Reports Mr Williams: "The new offering extends the value of 'Likes' and the social graph to search, a move that can revolutionize accuracy, value, and relevance — especially as consumers perform more and more local searches using mobile devices, an area where Google has struggled."

With the launch of Social Graph, people who want to search beyond Facebook will see web search results from Microsoft's Bing, along with social context and additional information such as Facebook pages.

This approach is reminiscent of the days when Google was the default search engine for the Yahoo Directory.

Over time Williams expects Facebook to cut into Google's desktop and mobile search volume, particularly in local and lifestyle (think restaurants, products, services, and what to do in a city).

Eventually, predicts Williams, search dollars will transition away from Google and toward Facebook, where large incremental revenue streams will complement existing revenue streams from desktop display, mobile and its gaming currency.

"The fact that this is a different kind of search – leading to results pages that feature precise answers, rather than links – will create new socially relevant queries that just don't happen on other engines.

And Google is unlikely to be the only casualty.

"People will look for their friends in particular cities, making search more locally and personally relevant. They'll also check out who knows whom. A user could theoretically search for which of their friends knows Kevin Bacon, which will steal traffic from networking platforms like LinkedIn.

Curiously, though, Mr Williams' prognosis fails to factor-in the near certainty of a Google counter-attack.

Read the original unabridged AdAge article.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... the launch of self-help and financial advice video programmes.

According to AdAge: "It's not clear which channels will be part of the first paid-subscription rollout, but it is believed that YouTube will lean on the media companies that have already shown the ability to develop large followings on the video platform, including networks like Machinima, Maker Studios and Fullscreen. YouTube is also looking outside its current roster of partners for candidates."

AdAge also reports that the same sources expect YouTube may introduce the paid channels as early as the second quarter of this year.

One of these informants believes that the channels could be introduced to the public at the Digital Content New Fronts show in late April 2013, where digital-media companies such as YouTube, AOL and Yahoo host presentations to advertisers touting new online-video series.

The show, to be staged in New York City, aims to shape a new and practical marketplace for connecting the wealth of native digital content with brand marketers and their media and marketing agencies.

It will feature fifteen events by leading distributors, producers, creators and thought leaders in online video content.

Read the original unabridged AdAge article.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... the anticipated recovery predicted by the bank last year is now expected to occur "closer to the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter of 2013, rather than beginning a little earlier."

Moreover, the World Bank warns that a drawn-out political battle in the United States over raising the government's borrowing limit and spending cuts could hit growth, spark a loss of confidence in the US dollar and unnerve financial markets.

In other quarters, there is also growing concern that the USA's financial links with the so-called 'petro-dollar' could spell major problems for that nation's economy.

As for the developing countries, which last year grew by 5.5% (their slowest pace in a decade) the Bank cut its 2013 forecast from the 5.9% predicted in June 2012. It now expects that growth in these countries will slowly pick up, reaching 5.7% in 2014 and 5.8%.

Read the original unabridged IndiaTimes article.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.