MAIL ONLINE’s notorious “sidebar of shame”, officially labelled Femail Today, appears to be doing the business for the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), with the company announcing a 69 per cent jump in online advertising sales in the three months to July compared to a year earlier.

Overall advertising revenue at Associated Newspapers, the DMGT unit that includes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as well as Mail Online, was flat over the year. But significantly, Mail Online’s performance was, for the first time, enough to offset a 5 per cent decline in newspaper advertising income.

So how has DMGT cracked the online-plus-print equation, where other media groups have floundered?

Well, yesterday’s sidebar stars included (but were not limited to): Kristen Stewart; Imogen Thomas (bikini); Gisele Bündchen (bikini and baby bump); aunt-and-niece Janet and Paris Jackson; mother-and-daughter Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson (matching black one-pieces); various ladies from The Only Way is Essex; Mila Kunis; Pixie Geldof (eschewing swimwear); Selena Gomez . . . and an Amanda Platell ode to the glorious sideburns of Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins.

Something for everyone.