Social networking is a top online destination category for Internet users in Brazil, with 85 percent of the country's online population age 15 and up visiting a social networking site in September, up from 76 percent last year, the latest comScore study on the state of the Internet in Brazil indicates.

Compared to other countries with more than 10 million monthly unique Internet visitors, Brazil ranked in the second spot in terms of percentage of reach in the social networking category, with 85 percent, only slightly behind Canada with 87 percent, according to the comScore press release posted on Biz Yahoo!.

More

In light of the financial crisis and plummeting advertising revenues, between 20 and 40 magazines are predicted to shut down in Russia, gipp.ru reported Friday.

The assumption is based on trends seen across the printing industry that indicate declining production of publications and feature not only magazines, but newspapers and books as well. The data was obtained by studying nine months out of 2007 and a part of 2008, revealing that the total growth of the printing industry amounts to 1.6 percent since last year.

More

Local search revenues in the United States will exceed US$2.6 billion in 2011, according to data from the Kelsey Group, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2008 reported.

In 2006, local search generated $922 million. It is expected to boost to $1.5 billion by the end of 2008, up more than 60 percent from two years ago.

More

The Philadelphia Inquirer has launched a new bimonthly “luxury and lifestyle” glossy magazine for the wealthy, bundled into 115,000 newspapers distributed to home delivery customers living in affluent postal code areas, the Associated Press reported.

The 56-page magazine, called I, is similar to The New York Times' T magazine and The Wall Street Journal's WSJ., and will be distributed six times each year. It will include subjects such as social events, dining, home decoration and fashion.

More

In an effort to further cut costs in its regional UK newspaper division, Newsquest North-East will cut 17 editorial jobs, close five district offices and freeze workers' pay by January 1, Media Guardian reported Friday.

Staff will be made redundant at three of the Gannett-owned Newsquest titles: the Northern Echo, Darlington & Stockton Times series and free Advertiser series. Employees were notified of the cuts at about noon Friday.

More

Free dailies located in southern European countries usually close down for the summer holidays, and free dailies in Switzerland are now considering doing the same, Newspaper Innovation reported Friday.

Located between the North and South, the country's free dailies Le Matin Bleu (published in the French speaking part of the country) and .ch (published in the German speaking part), are considering closing in the summer time as well.

More

Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund holds a 19.3 percent stake in The New York Times Co., and over the summer placed even more bets that the company's stock would go up; however, as Times Co. stock has dropped by about 50 percent, Harbinger is pulling away from a number of those bets, Editor & Publisher reported Wednesday.

Harbinger bet on the changing price of millions of Times Co. shares, making about 30 “equity swaps” with a brokerage firm in London that specialises in derivatives, E&P reported. Harbinger predicted in a “long” position that the prices would rise, and expected to collect the difference when the swap concluded. However, if the price goes down, as is currently the case, Harbinger would pay out the difference.

More

The New York Times Co. reflected the economic difficulties caused by plunging advertising revenues across the newspaper industry by cutting its quarterly dividend by 74 percent from 23 cents to 6 cents a share late Thursday, MarketWatch reported.

The trust for the founding Ochs-Sulzberger family stated that even though the move was “very difficult for all shareholders, it is the appropriate and prudent business response given the extraordinary challenges of the current economic environment.” The slash is one of the company’s actions that serve to “decrease debt” and optimise its liquidity, said Chairman Arthur Sulzberger.

More

Mobile subscribers in Europe totalled 703 million in 2005. Nearly 60 percent was from Western Europe, and the rest from Eastern Europe, according to the European Information Technology Observatory, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2008 reported.

This figure is expected to grow to 923 million in 2010, with an annual growth rate of 5.6 percent. The CAGR in Eastern Europe is more than three times that in Western Europe, with 9.4 percent versus 3 percent, respectively.

More

New Zealand's largest newspapers were unable to cover Thursday's Test cricket match, after the papers and Cricket Australia could not reach an agreement on usage for online content. CA would not give Fairfax-owned titles, the New Zealand Herald and the New Zealand Press Association accreditation after they did not join a scheduled teleconference, said Peter Young, a CA spokesman, The Australian reported Thursday

The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse have suspended their coverage of all cricket matches and other related events, while Getty Images announced it will not make photos available for editorial use.

More

Guardian.co.uk upped its lead over Telegraph.co.uk and was close to breaking the 26 million unique user mark in October, according to official national newspaper web traffic data released Thursday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations electronic, Press Gazette reported.

Mail Online came in third with more than 21million monthly unique users, passing the Times Online.

More

The Daily Mail & General Trust's full-year profit fell 9 percent after advertising expenditure at its UK national Associated Newspaper division dropped 10 percent in October, the Cumbrian Business Gazette reported Thursday.

DMGT is looking to save £100 million in its national and regional newspaper divisions to combat sinking ad revenues, and has already cut 400 jobs in the past two months, the Daily Telegraph reported. Media outlets in Europe and North America have been hit hard as businesses have tightened their belts and cut advertising spending.

More

Media General Inc. Thursday announced its October revenues dropped 5.8 percent because the continuous publishing ad sales downturn offset the increasing revenues of interactive and political advertising, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

This group, which has newspaper and television operations, reported revenue for the period ended Nov. 2 declined from US$91.2 million to $85.9 million.

More

UK regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press saw its share price go down again Wednesday, following a 20 percent drop Tuesday, allmediascotland.com reported Thursday.

Johnston Press publishes newspapers across the United Kingdom and Ireland, including The Scotsman, Evening Telegraph and The (Sheffield) Star.

More

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said his company has “moved on” and is no longer interested in buying Yahoo, pointing out that the focus is now on an Internet search agreement between the two firms, Reuters reporters Wednesday.

Following Ballmer’s announcement, Microsoft shares dropped by 3 percent to US$18.99 while Yahoo’s plunged by 19 per cent to $9.38. Earlier this week, Yahoo shares were up due to speculation that Microsoft may once again offer a bid for Yahoo after the firm’s Chief Executive Jerry Yang divulged the possibility of departing.

More