Researchers looked at 928 national newspaper articles focused on the referendum published by nine national daily newspapers and took a view on whether each piece favoured the leave or remain side of the argument. They found found 45% of articles were in favour of leaving the EU, 27% backed staying, 19% "mixed or undecided" and 9% adopted no position.

Facebook has hired a team of virtual reality experts in London, creating the first European base for its burgeoning Oculus division as Mark Zuckerberg aims to be at the forefront of the new technology. Oculus, which Facebook bought for $2bn (GBP1.4bn) in 2014, has substantially expanded its UK team of engineers and developer relations staff in the last six months.

"The pack" uses Virgin Active's new proprietary technology platform to aggregate individual bike data, convert it into team metrics and power a multi-sensory fitness class. Each class is divided into three teams -- the yellows, pinks and blues, or "Packs," who go head-to-head in a series of challenges focused on speed, stamina and strength.

The independent agency fought off competition from Grey in the final round, as well as VCCP in an earlier stage of the process, which was run by AAR. The hotel chain put its ad account up for review in February. It was the first time the brand had reviewed its advertising since appointing Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R in 2007. Lucky Generals will start work on the account immediately.

Google used its annual I/O developer conference to lay out how it will move beyond the smartphone into artificial intelligence, messaging and virtual reality, but what it didn't do was explain the position brands will hold in this new future, raising concerns they could end up "making a deal with the devil."

A near record number of football fans discarded their TV sets to catch the Europa League final on YouTube, but despite its success the Web giant has scotched the idea that it wants to challenge Sky and BT for Premier League rights. BT Sport struck a deal with Google-owned YouTube to air the Europa League final, and upcoming Champion's League final, alongside its own coverage.

"The Observer" and "i' have proved to be the biggest beneficiaries of the closure of the print editions of the Independent, with sales rising by more than 5% in April. Guardian Media Group's Sunday paper boosted sales by 5.32% month on month to 194,054 copies on average in April, according to official Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published on Thursday.

Sky has become the biggest advertiser to launch a campaign with Niche, the Twitter-owned service that connects brands with online creators and influencers. Niche was acquired by Twitter last February, and matches brands with online celebrities and creatives on Twitter-owned Vine, Snapchat and Instagram. Sky is using Niche to push Sky Go, its streaming service.

The inaugural UK Authentic 20, published by WPP agency Cohn & Wolfe, says that only 7% of people in the UK describe brands as "open and honest." This is the second-lowest figure in any of 14 global markets, beaten only by a figure of 5% in Sweden. The least cynical countries are China at 36% and Indonesia at 35%, while the U.S falls in the middle at 22%.

Now that mobile payments have arrived, it's clear that the days of contactless cards are numbered. They're just a palatable stepping stone from plastic to mobile. Yes, they kickstarted digital payments, making the casual touch-to-pay gesture a habit, but they're mostly a convenient springboard. Why rely on multiple cards when you've always got your smartphone on you?