Aegis Group has reported a 20% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £58.9 million in the first half of the year.

Johnston Press has seen pre-tax profits drop in the first half of the year to £13.8 million, down 47.5% year on year.

The UK’s national newspaper websites enjoyed a boost in usage in July, with almost all audited sites recording an increase – a positive change from last month, which saw just one site post a rise.

BBC One banked a prime time ratings run last night with Eastenders, Holby City and Harry’s Arctic Heroes.

Channel 5 has bucked the trend once again, posting a 23.7% year on year increase in total revenues for July.

WPP has reported a 37% year on year increase in pre-tax profits of £334 million in the first half of the year.

The Apprentice final topped the most-viewed programmes listings in July with 10.2 million viewers. The popular Alan Sugar series also stole second place in the Top Programmes listings (the penultimate show claimed 9.3 million viewers on 13 July).

Low performance indicators and ongoing uncertainty around sovereign debt has led to downward revisions to global growth expectations, which will impact European ad agencies, according to BofA Merrill Lynch.

BBC One’s long-running New Tricks easily won the peak-hour ratings last night with a high of more than 8.2 million viewers.

News of the World advertisers are yet to reallocate their £38 million annual expenditure, according to the Guardian.