Sales of electronic books have fallen by the most on record in a stark reversal following several years of spectacular growth. The Association of American Publishers released data showing e-book sales dropped 10pc in the first five months of this year, compared with the same period in 2014. The latest figures showed US e-book sales -- excluding educational titles -- of $610m (GBP400m). The group said it was the largest drop since the beginning of the e-book market.

TV is to scrap ITV Player TV and ITV.com and launch a new online hub that will be the home for live streaming of its TV networks and on-demand services. Called ITV Hub, it follows in the footsteps of 4oD being replaced with All 4 and is also in response to the development of the BBC iPlayer. ITV said that it will launch the new service later this year with live streaming at the heart of ITV Hub, to make a more compelling viewing experience across mobile, PC and internet connected TV.

Ad spending on social networks is growing even faster than analysts have previously predicted, according to eMarketer's latest forecasts. Globally, social network ad spend is expected to reach $25.1bn in 2015, higher than the $23.7bn forecast predicted by eMarketer earlier this year. This growth can largely be attributed to Facebook. The social giant is expected to rake in 64.8% of total social ad spend worldwide this year, and is estimated to bring in $16.3bn in ad revenue globally, a 41.8% jump from last year.

BuzzFeed will make its first foray into more localised news coverage by beefing up its UK editorial team, with reporters covering beats including the north of England, Scotland and Wales. BuzzFeed is seeking to significantly boost its news operation -- hiring 14 staff including four regional beat reporters. The move, which follows former "Guardian" deputy editor Janine Gibson joining as editor in chief of the UK, will see BuzzFeed boost its news operation by about 50% to 40 staff.

According to the Reaching Full Potential report, 71% of people in adland believe that knowledge of programmatic is "one of the most important capabilities that agencies will need to possess in five years' time, yet 44% of those questioned did not understand, or had a small amount of knowledge, about how programmatic works. The same was true for 63% of advertisers, 48% of agencies, and 47% of publishers. Twenty-nine percent of the industry use programmatic despite knowing very little about it.

Plymouth Gin, the drinks brand owned by Chivas Brothers, the Pernod Ricard Scotch whisky and gin arm, has appointed AnalogFolk to handle a digital-orientated brief following a competitive pitch. The agency will develop a new digital strategy for the brand and update its online presence by drawing on the brand's maritime heritage.

Instagram is celebrating after seeing 100 million users sign up within nine months, taking it to 400 million worldwide. The San Francisco-based photo app, bought by Facebook in 2012 for one billion dollars (GBP669m), said in a blog post it was "thrilled" by the milestone. The social network has surged ahead of Twitter -- which at the end of 2014 had 282 million users, but trails Facebook and the WhatsApp messaging service, which have around 1.49 billion and 600 million active monthly users respectively.

Spotify has launched a media planning tool that can deliver bespoke media plans, as it looks to improve its sales offer to agencies. The company is targeting Europe as a fertile area for growth in the digital audio market, compared to a much more advanced US market where it faces stiff competition from the likes of Pandora and Apple Music.

GoCompare.com's "Gio Compario opera singer" by Chris and Sian Wilkins has been voted the ad that people "love to hate," according to research by J Walter Thompson. MoneySupermarket's "epic strut" by Mother was voted the nation's second favourite ad they love to hate. Cillit Bang's "bang and the dirt is gone! With Barry Scott," by JWT, took third place. The research from JWT found 70% of consumers think modern ads are more creative than in the past.

Facebook is on the receiving end of a lawsuit from the Belgian data protection authorities accusing it of acting like the NSA. "When it became known that the NSA was spying on people all around the world, everybody was upset. [Facebook] is doing the very same thing, albeit in a different way," said Frederic Debussere, representing the Belgian privacy commission (BPC) who launched the action.