The secret of the MailOnline's ABC success (Comment)
The MailOnline, which recorded 54m unique visitors in December is currently the most successful UK newspaper website. Noel Young, reporting from Boston, says the secret of its success is to be found in the US.
Many years ago the Daily Record in Scotland, under its then dynamic Mirror leadership, built sales in, for sample, Dundee, by printing slip editions - full of Dundee stories, never mind that they weren't always great stories. I remember one Page 1 Splash on a road accident that nearly happened.
The Online Mail accessed here in the US avoids that trap. It is full of strong American stories from all 50 states, some with freelance bylines, more often bylined "Daily Mail reporter" and always loaded with illustration . They're red-hot, one way or another : One story on the Yellowstone Volcano last week - likely to largely wipe out the US as we know it - was based largely on a National Geographic article of four years ago. British traffic accounted for just 35% of Mail Online's total monthly audience, with US growth said to be a key driver of traffic for the site. Sample stories this weekend : Mother shot her two teenage children twice in the head 'for being mouthy'; Wrongfully convicted rapist is freed after 17 years.. and hit with a $110,000 bill for backdated child maintenance; Missing mother of two found shot dead and buried with another woman in makeshift grave; Controversial Muslim cleric caught being smuggled into U.S. over Mexico border. No wonder the Americans love it!
Noel Young is the former group managing editor of the Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail. He is now reports on the US from his Boston-base.