Irish consumers signed up to Tesco's loyalty scheme can probably expect their shopping habits to be increasingly scrutinised as the retailer's data consultancy subsidiary, Dunnhumby, expands its Irish operation.

Last week Dunnhumby said that it had opened a new Dublin of"ce and will be boosting staff numbers to 30 over the next two years from the current 10.

Tesco has become the dominant retail force in the country, and London-based Dunnhumby, in which Tesco owns an 84% stake, collates data from customers signed up to the retailing giant's Clubcard scheme.

It then sells the data to companies such as Procter & Gamble, Heinz, Masterfoods, Unilever and Colgate, boosting Tesco's revenue, and helping FMCG companies to use the Clubcard scheme to target shoppers with special deals.

Tesco paid over 20m two weeks ago to buy an additional 29% stake in Dunnhumby, bringing its holding to the current level.

Dunnhumby also has an operation in the US, but it is believed that the division's largest client, Kroger, which is one of the nation's biggest retailers, is a bit put out about Tesco opening a chain of stores on the west coast.

FREESHEETS NOT IN READER SURVEY

Despite a strong circulation performance from competing freesheets HeraldAM and Metro, the two titles are facing what looks like a losing battle to be included on the Joint National Readership Survey (JNRS).

The survey only collects data from paid-for newspaper titles that have national availability.

Independent News & Media's HeraldAM and Associated Newspaper's and Metro International's Metro, which is backed by the Irish Times, have been available on Dublin streets since February and both boast circulation "gures in at the mid50,000 level.

Metro claims that 55% of its readers do not normally buy other paid-for newspapers. Being included in the JNRS would allow both titles a potential opportunity to both boost advertising rates and also attract new advertisers.

Metro recently ran an advertisement in the Irish Times claiming that 28 of the 29 members of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI) want the freesheet to be included in the JNRS. Be that as it may, both titles appear to have hit an impasse with the JNRS. It looks as if the freesheets may have to devise their own method of providing supported research to woo the agencies.

US TELEVISION TO BREAK WITH LONG AD TIME In the face of threats to the effectiveness of US television advertising brought by the increasing use of the Tivo personal video recorder, NBC and Starcom's media buying unit Publicis Groupe, are to experiment with shorter ad breaks. The move heralds a major shift from the usual breaks that are aired on US television.

Traditionally up to four minutes long, commercial breaks can now be bypassed by Tivo users . . .

something that has posed a growing headache for agencies and networks trying to sell air time.

NBC and Publicis will run a one-minute commercial break with two just two adverts in the hope that viewers will not channel surf while they're airing. Ads by "nancial group Allstate and retailer Walgreen will be used in the test which will run on NBC's USA cable network channel.

Advertisers may ask television networks to cut back on the length of each advertising break if the tests show that viewers pay more attention to the shorter spots.

PHOTO PROVIDER STAFF GET BYTE OF $135M DEAL

What a nice payday for Jerry Kennelly of Stockbyte, the Kerrybased royalty-free photography provider. Last week the "rm was snapped up for $135m by competitor Getty Images.

Just three weeks ago, Kennelly was denying a deal had been done. Well, technically he was denying that a deal worth $200m had been done to acquire Stockbyte.

"You've got to be kidding, " he replied to the online reporter who "oated the story. "Do you know it's nearly 4 for a pint of Guinness here now? Not a cent less than 500 million . . . and that's euros . . .

the dollar isn't looking too healthy these days!"

Well, now you'll never know if Kennelly is bluf"ng if you end up sitting opposite him at a poker table. The deal wasn't so good, of course, for 28 employees who lost their jobs, as Getty said it would move the operation to the US. The pain was greatly tempered, however, by a tax-free payment of 175,000 each from the owners.

On the go since 1997, Stockbyte was initially backed by ACT Venture Capital, which sold back its 30% stake in the "rm in 2003 to Stockbyte management.

At the time, Stockbyte said it would invest 10m to grow its picture library. It looks like it was money well spent, even if it didn't manage to raise the price tag to 500m.