The BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide has reached a deal to sell its travel guide business Lonely Planet to US company NC2 Media, for approximately $75 million. BBC Worldwide will initially receive $60 million for Lonely Planet, with the remaining $15 million to be paid in one year. The deal marks a loss of nearly $120 million for BBC Worldwide, having acquired Lonely Planet for $195 million in 2007.

The London Evening Standard tweeted a picture of its front-page Budget splash before George Osborne spoke in Parliament this afternoon. The newspaper tweeted the front page, headlined 'Things can only get bitter', around 20 minutes before the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered his statement. The paper appeared to have advance knowledge of much of the contents of Chancellor George Osborne's speech.

According to Motorola Mobility's Fourth Annual Media Engagement Barometer, consumers are watching an average of 25 hours of TV programming and film content a week across the globe. Film viewing has increased from 5 hours to 6 hours, while TV viewing rose from 10 hours in 2011 to 19 hours this year while about 29% of the weekly TV viewing content is recorded content and one third of which is never watched.

Russian consumer rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, criticised Google and YouTube saying that they are more concerned about ensuring freedom of information than protecting user's from prohibited information or harmful content. The watchdog's statement follows a lawsuit filed by YouTube against Rospotrebnadzor for its decision to block a video, which was posted in January last year for featuring alleged harmful material.

The Sky backed internet TV service, has announced the introduction of pay-as-you-go Sky Sports on the fledgling service. The deal offers sports fans to access broadcasts with no contract, set up costs, or installation and allows unlimited access for GBP9.99 per day. This arrangement is geared toward offering consumers flexibility to watch specific matches or events.

Through the agreement, Blinkx will offer a number of Penske Media Corporation Studios channels, including "Beyond the Trailer," which covers exclusive entertainment content, from movie previews and audience reviews to Hollywood news and interviews. Blinkx will place contextually relevant advertising against the videos, leveraging its AdHoc platform.

Digital advertising revenue, meanwhile, grew by 12% as the publisher seeks to build its online profits. Yesterday's statement said that the group was attempting to put in place the infrastructure, technology and resources to help its long-term growth. This included buying its 1,500 sales staff new software and 800 iPads - meanwhile, 350 journalists were provided with new laptops and smartphones. It also redesigned 69 regional newspapers and launched 200 mobile websites, 18 tablets apps and 11 phone apps.

Dominic Burch, ASDA's head of corporate communication and social media, who says content that isn't optimised for smartphone and tablet browsing can be rendered meaningless. Talking at the Social Media World Forum in London this week, Burch said every product of the supermarket chain's own content marketing strategy is "mobile-first" and must look picture perfect on all devices - from desktop to iPod.

The Dish is making its paywall stricter in its second month, Andrew Sullivan says. He cited sales that "flat-lined once the meter reset for most people after March 8," and the fact that people were accessing the site from multiple devices and thus increasing their limit of free stories. Therefore, Sullivan writes, "we've decided to lower the meter to five free read-ons and extend the reset period from 30 days to 60 days. In all other respects, the meter will remain the same."

According to a recent report by bbc.co.uk, musicians are buying YouTube views, Twitter followers and Facebook likes in order to increase their online social status. Online content promotion is vital for musicians and the number of views someone has on YouTube can turn people into stars. Justin Bieber was picked up because of the number of YouTube views he had, as was Conor Maynard who was discovered by Ne-Yo.