The search engine Google is the brand with the highest likeability rating in Austria. According to a study by Marketagent.com and Publicis, 79.8 percent of the 2,500 respondents rated the online portal as very likeable. Milka came second, followed by Nokia in third place. This is reported in the press release. Google is particularly popular with women: While 86 percent of women voted for the search engine, it only received the highest likeability rating from 73 percent of men. The fact that Google is ahead overall is also due to the fact that the study was conducted among online users. Herbert Kling, Head of Marketing at Marketagent.com, explained to Pressetext: "Online users have a different affinity to Google than the rest of the population."

In the week from April 3 to 8, 2006, the first HD radio broadcasts were made from a small transmitter on the studio roof of Radio Sunshine. The experience with high definition radio was "very impressive and in some cases surprisingly positive". Markus Ruoss from Ruoss AG, which carried out the tests, commented on the evaluation of the test results. The next steps are further laboratory and small-scale radiation tests as well as preparations for the installations at the main Radio Sunshine transmitter in Rooterberg. The first test transmissions from 88.00 MHz are to be recorded in May. The test phase is scheduled to last two years and is intended to test the suitability of the HD radio process in Switzerland. The HD radio trials are being carried out by Ruoss AG and Radio Sunshine, supported by a large number of companies and organizations. The main sponsors are currently BE (broadcast equipment), Ibiquity (HD radio system developer), Omnia /Orban (sound processing), Radio Energy Zurich (producer of alternative programming).HD radio enables the transmission of a larger number of programmes or a larger amount of additional data, according to Ruoss AG.?as it can largely be built on the existing transmitter infrastructure, it represents a cost-effective digitization option, especially for local and regional radio stations.?

The electronics company Philips has filed a patent application in the USA for a technology that is designed to prevent television viewers from switching between commercial breaks. In the case of recorded programs, fast-forwarding during commercial breaks is also to be made impossible, as reported by Golem.de. If you still want to skip the commercials or change channels, you will have to pay a fee, according to the Philips developers. The "Advertisement Controller" is primarily intended to protect the interests of television broadcasters in view of the increasing number of hard disk recorders. However, technology enthusiasts on German Internet forums suspect that this could be a strategic patent. In this case, Phillips just wants to make sure that no one beats them to it without planning to launch it on the market in the near future. Nevertheless, there are also fears that the technology - similar to code-secured DVD players - could catch on and force other devices off the market.

The complaint by journalist Bruno Schirra against the confiscation of his files on the so-called party donation affair was rejected by the Berlin Regional Court. The court rejected the appeal on the grounds that Schirra could have made himself liable to prosecution through his articles in the party donation affair. The affair concerned donations to the CDU, which former Chancellor Helmut Kohl is said to have administered without declaring them as donations, and investigators from the Brandenburg State Office of Criminal Investigation and the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation searched Schirra's apartment at the end of August 2005. The Potsdam public prosecutor's office accuses the journalist of quoting from confidential files of the Federal Criminal Police Office in his article about the terrorist Mussab Al Zarkawi published in the magazine Cicero. Schirra is thus alleged to have aided and abetted the betrayal of secrets. During the search of Schirra's apartment, files on the party donation scandal were also seized by chance, so that the public prosecutor's office in Berlin opened a second case against the journalist.

The Q1 2006 Bellwether Report from the IPA Institute of Practitioners in Advertising shows a four percent decrease in marketing budgets and expenditure in the UK. The study's quarterly data confirms the trend of advertising spend shifting away from traditional media and sales promotions towards direct marketing and the internet. Although overall growth is forecast for 2006, this growth is at its lowest level since 2002. Advertising budgets in traditional media in the first three months of 2006 were cut for the sixth consecutive quarter, with advertising spend falling from 37 percent of total marketing spend in 2004 to 33 percent in 2005. Only 22.7 percent of marketing budgets were adjusted upwards in 2006. Only expenditure on Internet advertising in the first three months of this year increased to four percent of total expenditure. According to Group Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell of the communications group WPP, the UK is currently the weakest geographical market. However, new media and new technologies are growing rapidly, with clients experimenting with different methods and questioning the value of traditional media, Sorrell said in a press release.The Bellwether Report is based on a survey of more than 250 UK-based companies and provides quarterly information on trends in their advertising and marketing activities.

The Zurich-based communications agency Allinonemedia is expanding its focus: in addition to electronic media, it now offers public relations, events and trade fairs as well as print solutions, web and design. The team of specialists has also been expanded. On July 1, Priska Rölli begins her work as Director Public Relations. The qualified commercial economist and journalist has many years of experience in marketing, PR and sales on the media and corporate side. Allinonemedia has been offering services in the field of electronic media since 2004 and has produced commercials, publicity reports and specialist articles for Swiss radio and television stations.

A daring caricature of Ticino government councillor Marina Masoni in the satirical magazine Il Diavolo prompted the Lugano police to have the last issue of the magazine removed from the newsstands in Lugano on Good Friday. The Lugano city police acted on their own authority. The decision was taken by the commander of the Lugano police, Roberto Torrente, seven days after the magazine was published, according to the SDA news agency. Those responsible for Il Diavolo were irritated by the measure. This had no legal basis. Il Diavolo journalist Sergio Savoia is demanding a written explanation from the city of Lugano for the removal of the magazine from kiosk displays. Savoia wants to know why the police acted, because censoring a cartoon is ridiculous. Neither Roberto Torrente nor police chief Erasmo Pelli could be reached for comment, as both are currently on vacation. 
The controversial cartoon shows FDP government councillor Marina Masoni in an explicit pose on all fours and with her backside bare. The accompanying caption reads: "Get up and walk!" The drawing illustrates an article about Masoni, who was injured in a sports accident and was partially disempowered by her four government colleagues during her absence due to a tax affair.

ZDF wants to do without further telenovelas in the future, as the market is obviously saturated. This was reported by the industry magazine Werben und Verkaufen on Tuesday. After the ratings flop "Tessa - Leben für die Liebe" (Tessa - Life for Love), ZDF does not want to show any more telenovelas in the early evening or in the afternoon. Apparently, there are not enough viewers who want to watch a daily afternoon series on a regular basis. ZDF program director Thomas Bellut admitted that the potential for telenovelas had been overestimated. ZDF had had a huge success in 2004 with "Bianca - Wege zum Glück" and had expected a sequel. This expectation has now turned out to be a mistake. The sequel "Julia - Ein Leben für die Liebe" will continue to be broadcast, while the third ZDF telenovela "Tessa" will be shortened by 100 episodes. It will also be moved from 2.15 p.m. to a slot shortly after midnight from May.

Marketing expert Silvia Bargähr from the Bargähr Weinmarketing agency asked 300 Swiss winegrowers about their understanding of marketing and their specific use of marketing tools. Around a quarter of those surveyed responded. The study concludes that marketing measures such as product quality, customer care, new customer acquisition, customer service, design, communication measures and sales promotion are considered important by winegrowers. Winegrowers are aware of the increasing competition. In principle, the winegrowers surveyed are aware of marketing and communication measures. Nevertheless, most respondents cannot bring themselves to allocate fixed budgets for marketing and communication. The survey showed that farms with four hectares of land, for example, spend an average of CHF 6,000 per year on marketing activities (consulting, advertising, graphics, printing, hosting/web, etc.). With a production volume of around 25,000 bottles, this amounts to just 24 centimes per bottle, which is not even half the price of a cork (53 centimes).

Four of the coveted Pulitzer Prizes went to the Washington Post and three to the New York Times. Among other things, the Washington Post was honored for uncovering the bribery practices of US lobbyist Jack Abramoff and for reporting on secret CIA prisons abroad. The New York Times was honored in the "National Reporting" category for its reports on the government's spying on US citizens and in the "International Reporting" category for its coverage of the justice system in the People's Republic of China. The regional newspapers Times-Picayune in New Orleans and Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi, received Pulitzer Prizes for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina last summer. The two regional papers were honored for their brave and accessible reporting and heroic work in the "Public Service" category. The Times-Picayune also received one of the coveted awards in the "Breaking News" category. Katrina" also took center stage in the Photography category. The Dallas Morning News was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for photos depicting the chaos and suffering caused by the hurricane.

According to the Publicitas index, advertising expenditure rose slightly in March thanks to more job and real estate advertisements. The index of the advertising marketer rose by 0.2 points to 92.8 points compared to the same month last year. This development comes as no surprise, Publicitas announced on Tuesday, but has been apparent for months. The index of job advertisements rose by 2.1 points from February to March to 141.1 points, while the index of real estate advertisements climbed by 0.2 points to 97.2 points. Occasional advertisements in the Märt also supported the positive trend, particularly thanks to advertisements from the financial and political sectors. In contrast, there was still no improvement in commercial advertisements.

The Bernese media company Espace Media Groupe reports stable total revenues and a respectable profit for the 2005 financial year. Operating revenues increased slightly from CHF 260.9 million in the previous year to CHF 261.9 million. Despite special costs in connection with the commissioning of the new newspaper printing center in Berne, the operating result Ebitda was still CHF 32.5 million, CHF 2.2 million less than in the previous year, Espace Media Groupe announced on Tuesday. Net profit after tax also fell slightly to CHF 21.3 million (previous year CHF 25.7 million) due to higher depreciation and amortization in the same context. Shareholders' equity increased by 7.8 percent to CHF 210.3 million and achieved a solid ratio of 60.4 percent (previous year: 56.7 percent) despite investments of CHF 37.8 million.