In the new six-part series on RTÉ One, comedian Brendan O’Carroll stars as Agnes Brown, a hilarious, foul-mouthed Dublin matriarch who interferes in the lives of her children and friends. The theatre show, Mrs Brown’s Boys, has been a sell-out success for a number of years in Ireland and the UK.
Brendan O’Carroll writes the scripts and stars. The cast of the television show features the regular cast of Mrs Brown’s Boys on stage, and includes his real-life wife Jennifer Gibney as Cathy, his daughter Fiona O’Carroll as Maria, his son Danny O’Carroll as Buster, and his sister Eilish O’Carroll as Winnie McGoogan
The show has seen phenomenal viewing figures throughout the six episodes, regularly beating those of RTE rival big hitter, The Late Late Show – the last show in the series saw a whopping 711,000 individuals in multi channel homes tune in to watch the antics in the Brown household.
A new addition to the radio sales landscape called ‘Radioworx’ has been launched. Radioworx will be located in Castleforbes House just around the corner from the O2. The new facility is already home to Radio Nova and new studio and administration facilities for 4fm are currently underway there. The Radioworx team is comprised of a line up of experienced professionals who have a strong track record in the media industry. Led By Dave Hammond it also includes Siobhan Gavigan , Joe Toomey and Niamh Mc Donald. The team have been working with the respective radio stations since their launch dates and each bring a wealth of experience to the new business.
Radioworx will handle all sales and sponsorship opportunities for advertising agencies and national brands on behalf of both Radio Nova and 4fm. It will act as a convenient central point of contact for all commercial activity for both stations. All accounting ,credit terms and contracts will remain with the individual radio stations.
On Feb 1st, the Independent News & Media Group (INM) decided to cease funding of The Sunday Tribune. Receiver Jim Luby announced the paper would not go on sale for four weeks while a buyer was being sought. Advertisements seeking a new investor for the paper appear in today’s Sunday Business Post, and will also appear in tomorrow’s Guardian. Salaries are being paid and contributors’ fees covered until the end of February. The Sunday Tribune may yet attract fresh investment, and editor Nóirín Hegarty and managing director Michael Roche have emphasised this hope repeatedly.
A joint decision by Ireland’s outdoor industry has been taken to amend the outdoor posting calendar in 2011. Bravo Outdoor, CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Ireland, JCDecaux Ireland, IPM NI, Kinetic and PML Group have all agreed to amend the 2011 posting calendar on a 32 county basis to be in sync with the UK poster calendar during 2011. The revision to the 2011 poster calendar occurs in Cycle 11 which now becomes a one week cycle and will run from Monday May 23rd to Sunday May 29th.
|
Cycle |
From |
To |
| 1 |
03-Jan |
16-Jan |
| 2 |
17-Jan |
30-Jan |
| 3 |
31-Jan |
13-Feb |
| 4 |
14-Feb |
27-Feb |
| 5 |
28-Feb |
13-March |
| 6 |
14-March |
27-March |
| 7 |
28-March |
10-April |
| 8 |
11-April |
24-April |
| 9 |
25-April |
08-May |
| 10 |
09-May |
22-May |
| 11* |
23-May |
29-May |
| 12 |
30-May |
12-June |
| 13 |
13-June |
26-June |
| 14 |
27-June |
10-July |
| 15 |
11-July |
24-July |
| 16 |
25-July |
07-Aug |
| 17 |
08-Aug |
21-Aug |
| 18 |
22Aug |
04-Sep |
| 19 |
05-Sep |
18-Sep |
| 20 |
19-Sep |
02-Oct |
| 21 |
03-Oct |
16-Oct |
| 22 |
17-Oct |
30-Oct |
| 23 |
31-Oct |
13-Nov |
| 24 |
14-Nov |
27-Nov |
The ambient and digital out-of-home market in Ireland was worth an estimated €28.4m in 2010 according to a new report on the industry that was carried out by AmbientPlus, the ambient subsidiary of PML Group. Ambient media is generally defined as nontraditional out of home media and it is a highly targeted form of advertising and covers a wide range of formats including phone kiosks, building banners, outdoor projections, in-pub advertising and eco cabs.
The €28.4m value that was placed on the market is based on rate card valuations and the information was gleaned from PML’s Posterwatch service as well as media owners themselves. According to the AmbientPlus report, “there is no denying that the current advertising market is challenging however the ambient sector has stood its ground. Historically in recessionary times, ambient would have been the first casualty when budgets needed to be cut. Times and thinking have changed and the importance of this form of advertising is now recognised by the market. With increasing pressure to ensure that reduced media budgets are working hard, advertisers are happy to include ambient media within their overall plans. Often times, ambient media is highly targeted with very little wastage and ambient stunts and innovation can create and deliver a great deal of “earned media” forclients.
“The report also gives a breakdown of the particular industry sectors that use ambient media as part of their overall marketing spend. Some 17% of the €28.4m spend was attributable to the beers & cider market while 13% was attributable to the telecommunications sector. Food accounted for another 10% while tourism and travel accounted for 6% (see table below.
|
Sector |
Display Value |
%of Total Adspend |
| Beers &Ciders |
€4,859,034 |
17% |
| Telecoms |
€3,567,815 |
13% |
| Food |
€2,840,888 |
10% |
| Tourism & Travel |
€1,799,331 |
6% |
| Soft drinks |
€1,760,092 |
6% |
| Retail outlets |
€1,547,021 |
5% |
| Finance |
€1,540,226 |
5% |
| Health & Hygiene |
€1,443,937 |
5% |
| Political & Advisory |
€ 968,723 |
3% |
| Films |
€ 892,660 |
3% |
JCDecaux SA (Euronet Paris: DEC), announced that it has become the largest outdoor advertising company in the world with revenues in 2010 of €2,350 million ($3,115 million). Based on its three divisions of Street Furniture, Transport and Billboard, JCDecaux operates 1,040,600 advertising panels in 56 countries. In Ireland, JCDecaux has changed the outdoor landscape through investment in new formats that yield high-audience for advertisers and public realm enhancement, a ore strength of the JCDecaux Group. Notably, dublinbikes was introduced in September 2009, bringing fundamental improvement to the city. In addition JCDecaux have the contract for the advertising on Luas and are the number one provider of large format billboards in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Vizeum and Jameson have partnered up with My Place Media for an Irish media first. MyPlace Connect is a free in pub Wi-Fi service targeting 18-34’s in pubs across the ROI. MyPlace Connect is a very sophisticated and valuable resource that is a necessary component to any digital platform.
It allows a brand to communicate via smart phones while also saving consumers money by providing free limitless and more efficient usage of social networks-Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc. We are delighted to announce that the launch of the Jameson Smart Phone Home Page take over went live last week in twenty venues across Dublin ahead of the Ireland vs France six nations match on Sunday 13th Feb. Adrian O’Connor who recently joined My Place Media believes that the “on-trade is a key recruitment battle ground and it is vital for alcohol brands to become as visible as possible across all communications platforms. It is vital for brands to have cut through at the point of purchase in mind.” 
As Ireland completes its transition from snow storage to official wind tunnel of Europe, we can be forgiven for wanting to spend our time indoors this February and unless you’ve been swept away into the overcast sky, you’ll have noticed the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival has launched around our fair city. Providing stunning visual and aural entertainment, JDIFF promises a global cultural cinema experience we can all appreciate from the comfort of indoors, not to mention cushioned seats with cupholders either side, something missing from my own stool in front of the TV. With over 100 movies playing in 8 different cinemas, some may think it daunting to decide how many they should go see!
Enter the JDIFF App. Available for both Android and iDevices, the JDIFF app is the quintessential guide to everything you need to know about the festival. The app features:
- Film listings by title, date and location.
- A synopsis on each film showing at the festival.
- Related film events happening around JDIFF.
- A calendar for scheduling the films you do want to see.
- And a background to the JDIFF festival.
So until the country has been roofed, you’ll know where to find me this February.
