Programmatic spending will hit GBP3.39bn by the end of the year -- up 23.5% year-on-year, "Marketing Week" reports.

Westfield, the owner of large shopping malls in Shepherd's Bush and Stratford, is being bought by French retail operator, Unibail-Rodamco. "The Telegraph" estimates this will create a $72bn (GBP54bn) retail property empire spanning Britain, the US and Europe.

Nielsen, Nectar and IAB UK have collaborated with nine leading brands over the past year, including Unilever and Nestle, to determine ROI on digital display. "Campaign" reveals the result -- that for every pound put in, the brands earned GBP1.94.

The Elizabeth Line, formerly known as Crossrail, opens in a year's time and is looking for six advertising partners, "Campaign" reports. Contracts will be awarded for the various channels across the new railway line, including small and large screens as well as escalator "ribbon" screens.

UK tech unicorn Shazam is on the verge of being snapped up by Apple for a reputed $400m. "Tech Crunch" has broken the news and points out that the price -- if it's in the right ballpark -- will be substantially less than the $1bn valuation the music-recognising app received during its last round of funding.

Visa is warning that British consumers are tightening their purse strings after reporting high street spending is down for the seventh month in a row. Spending was down just under 1% for November year-on-year in the wake of a 2% dip in October, "The Drum" reports.

Publicis' initiative to partner clients and start-ups, called NextTECHnow, has generated more than a million pounds of investment in start-ups through more than 100 pairings, "Campaign" reveals.

It may be easy to think that search is all about Google, but new research from MediaVision suggests that there is a lot going for Microsoft's Bing. Its figures suggest that Bing is normally 29% cheaper with a 30% rise in ROI, according to "Marketing Tech News."

"Campaign" is reporting that challenger energy brand Ovo has parted company with its third ad agency in three years as it ceases work with Brooklyn Brothers.

The German spy agency has warned its European counterparts to be on the lookout for fake LinkedIn accounts that are being run by Chinese spies to snoop on Western politicians, the BBC reports.