National news consumption has reached a record high, according to the latest data from PAMCo, as combined print and digital readership surpassing 30 million for the first time. Between April 2019 and March 2020, combined daily readership has increased 18%, with monthly and weekly national readership growing to an impressive 48 million and 45 million respectively. Digital readership was up 35% year on year from 6.6 million readers to 25 million.  Read more here.

Channel 4 have announced a 6 part anti-racism plan to drive change within the organization and as a public service broadcaster. The plan includes action to have a higher representation than the national average of on-screen presenters, talent and stars, and reinforce “genuine BAME authorship” by increasing the number of Black directors, executives and writers. The broadcaster will also focus this year’s £1m diversity in Advertising Award on BAME representation. Learn more about it here.

The latest Havas Media Group Covid-19 Media Report has reported a rise in the use of streaming platforms, social media and newspapers among 55-64s. The results show a 9% net increase over the past two weeks in each of the media for that age group. On the flip side, 18- to 24-year-olds have dropped their use of streaming platforms and social media, with 7% fall and a 6% fall respectively.

LGBT+ charity Stonewall launches new campaign on Piccadilly Lights in response to this year’s cancelled Pride events. With media space provided by Ocean Outdoor, the campaign aims to lift LGBT+ members who may be unable to access their usual support networks by sharing stories and photos from community members. Messages from Stonewall supporters such as Gok Wan and Sandi Toksvig will also be featured. You can read more about it here.

Finally, Boutique received an exciting update from ITV on what’s ahead for the ITV Hub platform. ITV presented the ambitions for the new campaign facility Planet V, which will work as an end to end solution where buyers will access it in a self-service capacity via a cloud facility. ITV shared insights with the Boutique team on how the addressable advertising platform will work, as the roll out is on track for the end of the year. Watch this space!