MEDIA & MARKETING BRIEFS

Diana-at-50 story

causes a global stir

Tina Brown, the editor-in-chief of Newsweek and friend of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, wrote a piece imagining what Diana would be like today, at age 50, had she not died. She superimposed Diana next to the royal's daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton, whom Diana never met.

The move met with global derision. Vanity Fair came up with a parody using its own cover: "James II at 310, if he were still here", posing the question: "James II and Pippa, the love that might have been." Tim Dick

STOCKS

Media companies

take a bashing

It has been a bad financial year for media stocks, with most losing ground throughout the past year. Fairfax is down from about $1.35 at the start of fiscal year 2011 to 98? at the end. During the same period, APN fell from about $2 a share to $1.32 yesterday, Network Ten fell from $1.46 to $1.06, and Consolidated Media Holdings fell from $3.15 to $2.61. News Corp recorded a small rise, up from about $16.54 to $16.64, helped by its profitable cable television interests. TD

REALITY TV

Ten builds solid start for DIY show

As it prepares to implement its cost-cutting strategy and lay off 80 to 100 staff members, Channel Ten says it has secured eight advertisers for its new DIY reality show, The Renovators.

Eight companies have paid for what Ten calls "integrated sponsorship packages" on TV and on its website: Bunnings Warehouse, LG Electronics, Taubmans, Freedom, Ford, Commonwealth Bank, KFC and

Yellow Pages. The Renovators is billed as Ten's next big-event television series and begins this month, while Nine's The Block is delivering solid ratings. Speculation is circulating about the jobs of George Negus and the newsreader Sandra Sully.

TRAVEL

Strong dollar lifts

internet bookings

The trend towards consumers booking holidays online is booming in Australia, boosted by the strength of the Australian dollar and growing confidence in e-commerce.

The PhoCusWright report found a 30 per cent increase, year-on-year, in traffic to travel websites in Australia. It found about one in two internet users visit such sites, equivalent to 5.8 million average monthly users.

Frank Grasso, chief executive of search engine marketing company e-Channel Search, said the report supported his experience that there had been a noticeable increase over the past six months in online travel activity. Clare Kermond

DIGITAL FIRST

Guardian shifts focus to online

After declaring that his publishing group would be a "digital first", the editor of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, said its research showed just 4 per cent of readers expected news to be broken in print, but that half read the morning paper in the evening.

He wrote in the Press Gazette that: "Our readers may well be ahead of us, demanding breaking news, source material, response and depth via digital and something more like [the BBC's evening current affairs program] Newsnight - a more tightly edited package that helps make sense of the day - in print."

The group hopes turning its focus online will increase revenue. TD