Facebook is set to bolster its UK operations as it looks to place the territory at the heart of its European growth plans. The social network is recruiting for its first managing director responsible for leading the company's UK operations. The incumbent will report into EMEA vice president Joanna Shields. Facebook's UK operations are currently led by UK commercial director Stephen Haines, who is likely to be a front runner for the role.

Seventy percent of smartphone owners and 78% of tablet owners among Europe's elite access media brands via their devices, according to Ipsos MediaCT's BE: Europe 2012 survey. Among Europe's business elite, international print titles combined had an average issue readership (AIR) of 39.8%. International TV channels had a weekly reach of 51.1% and international news channels a weekly reach of 37.9%.

The UK-based private music services provider has reported a 118% rise in its revenues for the year ended 30 April 2012 to GBP29.5m and recorded its first profit of about GBP3.8m since its launch nine years ago. The company had attributed the rise in revenue to growing restriction on internet piracy in addition to rise in demand for cloud-based music services. CEO Jeff Hughes said the company has experienced fantastic momentum on all fronts over the past year and have achieved profitability as a result.

The BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, which created theme tunes and sound effects for programmes including Doctor Who and Blake's 7, is to reopen after 14 years. Composer Matthew Herbert, known for his use of "found sounds", has been appointed creative director. One of his first commissions is a "sonic memorial" to the BBC's Bush House building which, until recently, was the home of the World Service.

NRS figures suggest that 35.5m UK adults read a national newspaper in print and online every week. According to national press marketing body Newsworks, the new combined print/online figures suggest that 44% of UK adults read a national press title every day and 70% of them do so every week. The new metric gives The Sun top spot as the most read newspaper (in print and online in the UK). According to NRS, the Sun reaches an audience of 13.6m a week (comprising 12.8m print readers and 1.3m online readers).

The subscription streaming service owned by Amazon, has agreed a deal with Bristol-based animation house Aardman that will give its members instant access to a range of content, including Wallace & Gromit. The agreement will bring UK LoveFilm subscribers a range of children's animations and short films from Aardman, featuring characters such as Wallace & Gromit, Morph, Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time and Rex the Runt.

Russian video aggregator ivi.ru is raising $40 million more. The money will be used to license TV and movie content, as investors hope decreasing piracy and willingness to pay for content can make for success. The investment advisory shop GP Bullhound's recent 2012 Russia market report said ivi.ru was raising $30 million from Tiger Global and ru-net, in February. That this round has become larger, and joined by Baring Vostok in the lead, suggests investor confidence in ivi.ru's prospects.

Canadian telecommunications company BCE has revealed plans to launch its own online movie service to rival with the likes of Netflix. The move means that the Canadian home-grown service will compete with the California-based Netflix, a relative newcomer in Canada. BCE's CEO George Cope has reportedly expressed an interest to use the company's planned $3.38 billion acquisition of Astral Media, which provides English and French language pay television services, to roll out the new service.

More people read newspapers worldwide than ever before thanks to online - but publishers have yet to find ways to match readership growth with revenue. This was the key finding of the World Association of Newspapers World Press Trends report issued this week. More than half the world's adult population read a newspaper: more than 2.5 billion in print and more than 600 million in digital form. That represents more readers and users than total global users of the internet, WAN said.

The social media management system acquired its former rival in what is described as 'a logical step in the lifecycle of both companies', wired.com reports. HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes said he 'has a lot of respect' for Seesmic, which carries out such functions as video-commenting on Twitter and customer relationship management. CEO Loic Le Meur commented on the move, saying: "We are thrilled to welcome Seesmic's users into the HootSuite family."