Research by MediaCom Ireland and "The Irish Times" shows that three in ten Irish marketers will increase budgets this year and only 7% will reduce them. Social media is noted as the main area for additional funding.

Facebook and Google appear to be backtracking on their claim they are not media companies, Sir Martin Sorrell said yesterday at Davos. According to The Drum, the WPP boss said the fact they are now hiring staff to check editorial they publish shows that they are, by definition, media companies.

Online publishers and encyclopaedia sites saw the biggest gains in SEO visibility last year, while some social media sites such as Reddit, Tumblr and Pinterest saw the biggest losses. Netimperative reports on the winners and losers with a table that features the sites that gained the most visibility in 2017. You guessed it -- YouTube is at the top!

The Prime Minister is set to launch a "fake news" rapid response unit to help deter and prevent misinformation being spread by "state actors." Press Gazette reports the unit will be controlled from within the Cabinet Office.

P&G has vowed to cut its agency roster by 50% before the end of the year. This will be partly achieved by bringing some work in-house. "The Drum" reveals that many agencies now believe this could be on the verge of "cutting to the bone, not just trimming fat."

Warc's latest figures predict ad spending will increase by 4.7% this year, largely thanks to the Winter Olympics, Fifa World Cup and US mid-term elections. "The Drum" reveals that in Europe lower growth of 2.6% is forecast.

Research by Ampere Analysis predicts the UK Premier League rights could shoot up to be worth nearly GBP6bn over three seasons, thanks to the likes of Amazon being highly likely to enter the bidding process. "The Mirror" reports the next set of rights for 200 live games will begin with the 2019-20 season.

Rupert Murdoch has claimed that Facebook should pay quality publishers a carriage fee, just like a cable tv company, "The Independent" reveals.

A former director of GCHQ is warning the tech giants they must reform or face legislation. Robert Hannigan has revealed that the Government and security forces feel the web giants have done little to ensure their sites are no longer seen as a safe harbour for extremists. He also told "The Telegraph" he would be very surprised if Russian had not used social media to try to influence the Brexit vote.

Asda has put all its UK agencies on alert by announcing that it is reviewing its entire roster, following an internal shakeup of its marketing teams, "Campaign" reports.