An interesting post over on Forbes.com which comes with an equally interesting Powerpoint slide from the people running Mail Online.
On the slide, below, the Daily Mail's uber successful – that is, much-visited – website floats alongside a number of well-known, and uber successful, US sites. The horizontal axis runs, left to right, from 'Inform' to 'Entertain', while the vertical axis runs, bottom to top, from 'Low editorial investment' to 'High editorial investment'. The strapline reads:
Mail Online is uniquely positioned to fill a gap in the U.S. news/ent landscape
Some of these sites on the slide look like natural competitors (AOL, Huffington Post, perhaps even People magazine). Some do not (The Atlantic). And others are simply unexpected (Drudge Report, Vice)
But according to Sean O'Neil, the Mail's head of marketing, they are all sites in his, er, sights. To quote from Alex Krantrowitz's piece:
When asked if the slide means Mail Online believes it can draw audience from the publishers surrounding it — a diverse group including The New York Times, The Huffington Post and People Magazine — O’Neal replied affirmatively. “Yeah,” he said. “I think that’s essentially how that works.”