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The recession has taken a swipe at the fortunes of some local media brands, but the popularity of international media appears relatively unscathed. This was the main finding of Ipsos' Europe 2004, which focuses on the region's A-list, or top 4 per cent. These high-value individuals are no strangers to smart hotel rooms, take expensive holidays and their second car's a Saab, not a Skoda.

In fact, the print figures mirror those in Ipsos' Asian Business Readership Survey released in March, which analysed the popularity of international titles among Asia's business elite. It seems that, wherever they live, once high-powered Rolex-wearers have a subscription to Time or National Geographic, they become loyal fans. National Geographic's average issue readership has now increased to 8.2 per cent, a third of all international titles (24.6 per cent). Similarly, reading the Financial Times, either in print or online, is as much a part of the daily routine of 6.6 per cent of this universe as a skinny latte or a double espresso.

Most print titles have held steady and viewing of all international TV channels has increased from 7,677,000, or 73.8 per cent, to 7,681,000, or 76.5 per cent, in 2004. It might not seem like a huge leap, but against a background of global recession and media fragmentation, it's a solid performance.

A closer look at the Europe 2004 figures shows that the popularity of news channels has dipped, while channels such as MTV, National Geographic and Discovery are gaining viewers. In the European Media & Marketing Survey, which measures a broader, less elite audience through a sample four times the size of Europe 2004's, the viewing of most international channels either stayed static, dipped ever so slightly or increased. MTV, in particular, appeared to achieve substantial gains among the EMS universe.

Monica Mather, Discovery's regional director for international advertising, has a theory about MTV's success: "There are lots of music channels and MTV may be seen as generic, like Hoover is with vacuum cleaners." She also makes a prediction: "There are too many news channels and they are going to carry on losing."

Over at CNN, a philosophical Kevin Razvi, the vice-president of CNN international ad sales, thinks CNN's growth has levelled out. He's more concerned with the fact international media's popularity with audiences isn't given justice when it comes to ad budgets. "It accounts for just 1 per cent of European advertising and I feel we're undersold: that figure should be about 3 or 4 per cent," he says.

Razvi and many of his peers are going hell for leather in terms of offering advertisers creative media solutions: brands such as Vodafone, Rolex and HSBC are involved in programming partnerships or sponsorships to achieve maximum efficiency from their spend. Accountability is a big issue for CNN and its rival, CNBC; both have systems to track the effectiveness of campaigns.

Nick Mawditt, the research director at CNBC, says every campaign on the channel is researched across a 5,000-strong panel. "Truthfully, we use our own research much more than EMS," he reveals. CNN has implemented its own system of accountability for around 15 of its top-spending clients.

According to Didier Mormesse, the vice-president of CNN Research EMEA, the likes of Deutsche Bank and InterContinental Hotels benefit. "These specific surveys track the effectiveness of their campaigns or sponsorships versus spot advertising," he says.

It's the same story in print media, according to Nadine Howarth, Time's international sales director. Time retained its position as the most popular weekly in Europe 2004 with 568,000 readers, despite tiny dips in both Europe 2004 and EMS. "Everybody wants a media first," she says. "They want something that is either super-creative or efficient."

At the FT, there's a wariness of going too far down this road with advertisers.

Ben Hughes, the worldwide advertising director, says: "There's a clear line between all things commercial and editorial here and that's a line we wouldn't dare to cross." The FT was pretty much static in Europe 2004, although according to EMS, it lost a quarter of its readership. Hughes is undaunted: "EMS is a broad survey and we're not that focused on it."

This highlights some key flaws with having two pan-European surveys (three if you count Ipsos' European Business Readership Survey). A few determined media owners are campaigning for a combined survey. "I'd rather invest in one survey that satisfies all parties," Razvi says.

Yet Jon Wright, the MediaLab director at Mediaedge:cia, is cynical: "I don't think one survey can address every need. It's also healthy to have a bit of competition. One survey would create a pan-European currency, but I'm sceptical about how much detail we'd lose if they were rolled into one." He adds that the consumer insight data included with the two surveys can be hugely helpful.

Media owners too are looking to conquer this area. Discovery, for instance, followed up last year's EMS survey by recontacting EMS respondents and conducting more in-depth research on attitudes to advertising on the different international channels. In particular, Discovery tracked its performance against the news channels.

Mather concedes that a news channel is still a "must-have" on media schedules, but is keen to be next in line for the next chunk of budget.

Mike Jeans, the research director for Time and Fortune, sums up the dilemma for international media: "It's not just about share of media; it's about competing with share of lifestyle, whether that's work or leisure. What we're competing against is share of attention."

And data that informs a media agency's buying decisions for big-spending international clients is increasingly going beyond the numbers. Given advertisers' penchant for creative media solutions, it's no surprise that a more attitudinal approach is coming to the fore.

PAN-EUROPEAN TELEVISION CHANNELS

Channel 2003 monthly reach 2004 monthly reach

(%) (%)

International channels 73.8 76.5

International news channels 59.4 57.6

BBC World 26.3 27.0

Bloomberg 11.4 10.6

CNBC 17.8 15.6

CNN 45.1 40.3

Discovery 24.0 26.4

EuroNews 28.7 27.8

Eurosport 39.3 40.6

MTV 29.9 31.5

National Geographic 19.9 22.4

TV5 17.0 17.3

Source: Ipsos, Europe 2004.

INTERNATIONAL PRINT MEDIA

Title 2003 average 2004 average

readership readership

(000s) (%) (000s) (%)

Dailies

Financial Times 689 6.6 664 6.6

International Herald Tribune 166 1.6 162 1.6

USA Today 149 1.4 130 1.3

Wall Street Journal Europe 134 1.3 131 1.3

Weeklies

BusinessWeek 223 2.1 192 1.9

The Economist 474 4.6 448 4.5

Newsweek 335 3.2 351 3.5

Time 568 5.5 551 5.5

Fortnightlies

Forbes 137 1.3 123 1.2

Fortune 207 2.0 169 1.7

Monthlies

Euromoney 106 1.0 105 1.0

Harvard Business Review 281 2.7 240 2.4

Institutional Investor 44 0.4 34 0.3

National Geographic 801 7.7 827 8.2

Scientific American 248 2.4 224 2.2

All internationals 563 24.6 2,467 24.6

Source: Ipsos, Europe 2004.