UK classified advertising in print and digital media fell -9% in 2010 to £2.76 billion, and we expect a further decline of -7% in 2011.

Our annual review and outlook concerns the classified advertising categories of recruitment, property, autos (used) and directories, across all media. We assess the continuing structural shift from print formats to less expensive digital media, in the context of prolonged recessionary pressures on local economies in the UK (bar London), which have reduced annual transaction volumes in 2010 by -28% in recruitment, -45% in property and just -16% in used cars, in relation to the peak in 2007.

A key development in recent quarters has been the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets as emerging platforms for classified advertising by the industries serving them. Consumers are enjoying the additional benefits of on-the-move data (e.g. in the forecourts of auto dealers) and instantaneous updates (e.g. for property rentals), which advertisers are keen to exploit, providing additional revenue opportunities for classified media. B2B classified platforms also monetise integrated brand and listings solutions, plus marketplace tools. New models are evolving that will have implications for other media and in some cases, industry supply chains.

This presentation details our assessment of the UK prospects for video-on-demand advertising through to 2015, covering through-the-middle and over-the-top services

While video-on-demand consumption is set to grow strongly, particularly to the TV, linear broadcast services, supported by PVR timeshift, will continue to account for over 90% of viewing to the TV and PC/ tablet over the next five years. As a result, we forecast that VOD advertising will equate to 7% of TV NAR by 2015, with current high prices for in-stream video ads falling as it becomes more integrated with TV airtime sales

VMed’s Q2 results were respectable, but quirky, with resilient underlying revenue and strong cash flow, but exceptionally weak cable volumes

Virgin Mobile is performing better than ever, but steam continues to seep from the cable cash flow boiler

A TiVo push and further progress at Virgin Media Business are still to come, but we expect a trend of gradual decline in fundamental cash flow growth

Our first report on UK consumer e-commerce covers the largest e-tailing market in Europe. Although the share of e-commerce in UK retail sales is just below 10%, the influence of online is much wider, including reducing shop trips (along with superstore and mall development), which rising fuel costs are bound to intensify as a trend. In the context of the consumer recession that started in Q4 2010, bargain-hunting online has again become a more important driver of consumer interest in consumer e-commerce. Retail sales value and volume data reveal that online retailers are delivering low prices to consumers, in contrast to offline retailing, where consumers face price inflation. As e-commerce grows its share of mind in a converged internet experience, the pressure on offline retailing will intensify, driving out weaker retailers; we think superstore and mall retailing will fare better than the high street, as consistent with a single trip to access a larger choice of goods/outlets (London being the exception). In electricals, the leading online category in the UK (ahead of food and clothing), specialist retailers are suffering the most from the consumer recession and the pressure of online on prices and margins.

BT’s plans to deploy next generation access, combined with state-aided rural broadband projects, look set to give almost three quarters of UK households access to high speed broadband by 2016

New wireless technology is a feasible substitute for wireline for some low-end users and in specific areas, but we do not expect it to have a major impact on high speed broadband deployment

BT Retail and Virgin Media will in effect move significant numbers of their customers onto high speed broadband, but without significant price reductions we believe that, even by 2016, consumers’ reluctance to pay more will result in two-thirds of households remaining on lower speed options

Google’s UK revenues rose to £597 million in Q2 2011, up 19% year-on-year, taking H1 2011 revenue to £1,037 million, up 16% year-on-year, surpassing our April forecast on better than expected growth in spend by small advertisers

Google’s global revenues were up 32% year-on-year, and CEO Larry Page impressed with his focus on key opportunities and threats; Google+, the company’s newly launched set of social applications, is off to a strong start

Our 2011 growth forecast for Google’s UK revenue is raised to 15% year-on-year, lifting this year’s UK internet ad spend forecast to £4,520 million, up 12% year-on-year

Internet advertising grew 15% YoY to €17.7 billion across Western and Central & Eastern Europe in 2010, according to provisional figures from IAB Europe

As in the US, growth in display, increasingly powered by social media, outpaced that of search, with display accounting for 33% of spend (up 3 ppts YoY)

We have updated our forecasts for 5 key markets – UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain – and now project aggregated growth of 10% in 2011 and 13% in 2012

The Hargreaves review of UK intellectual property law proposes to introduce a “limited private copying” exception to legalise existing recopying across devices

The proposed Digital Copyright Exchange (DCE) is a good idea, but industry reticence to financing and using a DCE is a challenge

Practical solutions to licensing digital content-based services should be the focus of Coalition efforts to spur innovation and economic growth

Revenues and profits continue to crash at the directory giant as local and small business expenditure shifts to cheaper online media

We believe Yell’s challenges may be less about share of voice, and more about how to absorb the pace of structural change – and to operate its business effectively from a much lower top-line

Tough conditions in all territories – UK, US, Spain and Latin America – have accelerated structural change, but Yell has some advantages over the start-ups, search algorithms and social networks that surround it

TTG’s full year results were, in the most important respects, solid, despite customer service issues and high churn caused by the migration of former Tiscali customers onto a single set of platforms

We remain cautious about the speed with which churn can be reduced, but there is little sign of the problem spreading beyond the former Tiscali base

Operating leverage and cost reduction have been impressive and give us confidence that new financial guidance will be met, although other sources of growth remain elusive