Mirror Group plans overhaul of national newspaper domains

by Philip Buxton, Revolution UK 01-Aug-05

Trinity Mirror is to relaunch the web sites of The Sunday Mirror and The People, as well as its Scottish titles The Daily Record and Sunday Mail.

All four web sites will be relaunched before the autumn, in line with
the overhaul of The Daily Mirror earlier this year.

Julia Smith, head of digital at MGN Digital, which runs the company's

national newspaper sites, said the effort was aimed at monetising all

four sites more effectively.

It has hired Falk Solutions to provide ad-serving technology as part of
the effort, having also looked at using DoubleClick's DART. It currently
uses 24/7 Real Media for ad serving.

Smith explained: "Falk's ad solutions allow our advertisers to target
better. We can use geo-targeting, for example, and track the efficiency
of campaigns more effectively. Its rich-media campaign tracking and
inventory will be invaluable."

She added that the web site redesigns would focus on key areas such as
sport, entertainment, travel and motoring.

Smith is also keen to exploit gaming and gambling to generate additional
revenue and is in discussions about partnerships with several providers,
including Cashcade.

The relaunches are backed by an expansion of MGN Digital's
headcount.

Three staff will join agency sales and Smith has also hired an
ad-trafficking manager. An extra web-development manager has been
appointed to look after site-build, search-engine optimisation, email
marketing and integration across all of the company's web sites.