Announcement by News Corp’s Board of Directors on Potential Combination with Fox Corporation

Expect some moderate growth in advertising in 2018. That growth will be boosted in part by big events like the Olympics and mid-term political elections. Below are summaries of the newly issued forecasts from WPP’s GroupM, Interpublic’s Magna, and Publics Group’s Zenith. WPP’s GroupM is forecasting global ad expenditure growth of 4.3% in 2018 to nearly $558 billion. That estimate is based on the assumption that 2017 expenditures will be 3.1% to about $535 billion. For North America, the firm estimates that expenditures will reach almost $200 billion next year, up 3.4%, following a 2.2% gain this year to more than $193 million. The release of the new forecast was timed to this week’s UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York. Click Read More below for additional information.

The Association of American Publishers welcomed the release of the 2023 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The Notorious Markets List highlights online and physical markets around the world engaged in industrial-scale copyright infringement and counterfeiting, which adversely impacts the interests of U.S. publishers, authors, and other rights holders. “The publishing industry thanks USTR and the interagency for their work in protecting the intellectual property of publishers and authors, whose livelihoods depend on the protection and enforcement of their rights,” said Lui Simpson, Senior Vice President for Global Policy at AAP. “The Notorious Markets report remains a critical tool for exposing online sites and marketplaces that traffic in infringing copies of books and journal articles.”

The United States Postal Service announced it will soon publish a Notice of Intent to supplement its environmental impact statement (EIS) related to its Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) plan. The decision comes as the Postal Service accounts for expected changes following a recently announced plan to improve the Postal Service’s delivery network. The plan to modernize and aggregate delivery operations will make delivery routes more efficient, which may affect the appropriate mix of vehicles to be procured for the Postal Service’s delivery fleet, including NGDV. “As I noted when we placed our initial NGDV delivery order, the Postal Service would continue to look for opportunities to further increase the electrification of our fleet in a responsible manner, as we continue to refine our operating strategy and implement the Delivering for America plan,” said DeJoy. “A modernized network of delivery facilities provides us with such an opportunity. This is the right approach —operationally, financially, and environmentally.”