The publisher confirmed it was in talks with owner Richard Desmond to buy 100% of Northern & Shell’s publishing assets, including OK! magazine, the Sunday Express, and Daily Star Sunday.

Dubbed Audience Insights, and currently in beta, the tool lets advertisers tap into a global dataset of online consumer behaviour, enabling them to build a real-time picture of their audience and plan targeted ad campaigns.

Mark Grether, previously the company’s executive chairman, has been named CEO, while Randy Wootton, who had been the CEO of Rocket Fuel since 2015, will become a special advisor to Sizmek.

Deal comes hot on the heels of its RadiumOne acquisition earlier in the summer and will create one of the largest independent digital video ad marketplaces in the world.

Local news publisher co-operative 1XL as launched a dedicated audience development division this week, to be headed up by former Local World and Telegraph executive Richard Underwood.

MEC has this week appointed Andy Francos as head of organic performance at its Wavemaker division, tasked with boosting the agency’s organic offering and performance measurement.

Videology is now working with the team that has already struck deals with ITV, Channel 4 and Sky to offer dynamic ad insertion – a technology that stitches tailored ads into online broadcasts.

Hosted by Mediatel, the awards recognise and celebrate those organisations and individuals that are driving innovation and development in UK media research.

White Ops and The Trade Desk are to pool their tech to scan ad impressions before they are purchased in a major new effort to cut out ad fraud.

Following a tough month in June, July was also witness to some declines in TV revenues, although not quite as severe.