Adams Media Research

Screen Digest Ltd is a company providing business intelligence, research and analysis on the global media markets based in London, United Kingdom, that has grown out of a monthly journal of that name that was founded in 1971. It was acquired by the technology researcher iSuppli in 2010, which was in turn acquired by information services company IHS Inc.

Screen Digest was founded in 1971 by journalist and documentary film-maker John Chittock, then film and video correspondent of the Financial Times, together with his business partner and wife Joy Chittock. Initially it was a news digest containing abstracts of a range of media, including film and cinema, television and in particular the nascent video sector and with editorial emphasis on the relevance and brevity of stories.

From the first issue, it has been characterised by the use of icons to identify the broad media subject area of each news story and the inclusion of contact information for companies and organisations mentioned in news items. Other features from the start were the inclusion in the subscription of a free binder and detailed annual index, based on the concept of acting as a journal of record.

In February 1972 a four-page centre section on yellow paper was introduced, initially to carry a page of reference material and articles from members of the industry. Among early contributors were Robert W Sarnoff, then chairman of RCA, film director and teacher Thorold Dickinson and the BBC director-general Charles Curran. This developed into a data-related eight-page section based on the company's recent research. Also in that month David Fisher joined as news editor and led in the shaping of the standards of the commercial publication. He became editor in July 1974 and held that position until January 2011.

In the mid 1970s, Chittock and Fisher produced a daily half-hour closed-circuit radio programme for delegates at the 1976 British Industrial Film Festival in Brighton and repeated the exercise the following year's 18th International Industrial Film Festival at the National Film Theatre in London.

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