Ex-Sky executive appointed by Metro interative division

by Olivia Solon, Media Week 30-Jan-07

Metro International has created an interactive publishing division and appointed former BSkyB executive Tom Symonds to head it.

Symonds joins the newspaper publisher as managing director of its newly
created Metro Interactive Media division.

He previously spent six years at Sky where he was director of internet

products and services and worked on Sky.com and the Sky News

website.

Symonds will be responsible for developing the global newspaper's
digital offering, localising activity in each of the 20 countries in
which Metro operates.

Metro aims to deliver a cross-media experience, offering news and
lifestyle content to young urbanites.

"We are building a team with the aim over the next six months to
establish a network of new- look, high-quality Metro websites across all
our major markets," Symonds said.

"By the end of next year, we want to extend this to have a fully
functioning interactive site in every location Metro publishes."

This will not include the UK editions of Metro, which are published by
Associated Newspapers and already have a well-developed web presence.
Metro International sells space in the print editions of UK Metro, but
not online.

Metro International will be pursuing pan-European or global advertising
deals for its websites, similar to its print business.

The newspaper publishes in more than 100 major cities in 20 countries
across Europe, North and South America and Asia. Although it does not
include the UK, the global sales team is based in London and a large
portion of business is booked by UK agencies.

The new sites, which will focus mainly on user-generated content, aim to
encourage users to interact through blogs, pictures and video.

Symonds said Metro aimed to expand to web and mobile to deliver
"up-to-date and relevant local content 24/7".