Success for the Daily Mail’s online strategy

Last year I started my A2 students on the topic of business strategy by looking at the UK newspaper market.  Analysis of their position paints a pretty bleak picture, but the industry has a successful record of innovation, so it was interesting to compare their strategies for survival.  A year later, and the success of one paper’s strategy is becoming apparent.

According to the BBC, the Daily Mail has overtaken the New York Times to become the world’s most visited newspaper website.  This is an astonishing achievement, in going from nowhere to 45.3 million unique visitors a month in just five years.  This seems to vindicate their strategic decision to put significant investment into free online content which then generates income from advertising.

The two other basic strategies employed by other newspaper groups have been to either:

- Go behind an internet ‘paywall’, only offering content to those who pay.

- Steer clear of the web in favour of free, or very cheap print editions to boost circulation (and hence advertising revenue).

The Daily Mail have also got their web offering right in terms of product, as well as price.  They’ve clearly developed a very successful style and content that you can read more about in the article.

Copycats and ‘Me Too’ products [25 May 2012]
Rising to the top of the milk [22 May 2012]
Epic fail: how to do really badly [15 May 2012]
Vodafone and Cable and Wireless Worldwide [25 Apr 2012]
Flaws in Tesco’s strategy [24 Apr 2012]
Technological change - manufacturing and innovation [20 Apr 2012]
Strategy - How Nokia was overtaken by Apple and Samsung [17 Apr 2012]
Sony - Hirai’s Turnaround Strategy - in Video Clips [13 Apr 2012]
Revision Presentation - Business & the Technological Environment [9 Apr 2012]
Apple’s new CEO and a new iPad - A Change in Leadership [9 Mar 2012]
Start-ups - the Wooden Smartphone? [4 Mar 2012]
Pink bricks for girls?  Lego builds a new strategy [2 Mar 2012]
VW targets growth markets [26 Feb 2012]
Barriers to entry for business expansion to Brazil [23 Feb 2012]
Ideas not Hierarchy Makes a Business - Steve Jobs on Teamwork & Culture [13 Feb 2012]
Innovation in Business - Perspectives from Stephen Elop (CEO of Nokia) [12 Feb 2012]
Product innovation - extending the humble cupcake [10 Feb 2012]
The history of Apple’s product innovation - in 30 seconds [10 Feb 2012]
Private equity buyouts - Sunday Times supplement [5 Feb 2012]
Glenstrata - Glencore proposes merger with Xstrata [3 Feb 2012]
Leadership - Howard Schultz on the importance of leading an innovative culture [29 Jan 2012]
Leadership - Tough decisions to turn Starbucks around [29 Jan 2012]
Strategic choice: What should Apple do for its investors? [29 Jan 2012]
Technological change: 3-D printing promises a new industrial revolution [28 Jan 2012]
Technological change: now you can have your own factory! [28 Jan 2012]
External influences: the threat that is China [22 Jan 2012]
What’s gone wrong for Kodak? [19 Jan 2012]
Business size and the innovation debate [11 Jan 2012]
Revision Presentation - Innovation [2 Jan 2012]
Business Innovation - where do good ideas come from? [2 Jan 2012]
Investment in People - Google and Human Capital [26 Dec 2011]
International operations decisions - Adidas trainers for $1? [26 Nov 2011]
A trip down memory lane for a great business studies resource [3 Nov 2011]
Technology and Business - Microsoft’s vision of the mobile future is astounding (video) [28 Oct 2011]
Strategy case study - does Microsoft have a long-term strategy? [21 Oct 2011]
How PepsiCo are trying to control diseconomies of scale [18 Oct 2011]
Pining for Success - Heston’s mince pie innovation [13 Oct 2011]
Virtual shopping - Tesco in South Korea [6 Oct 2011]
Selling Bread - Classic Adverts [6 Oct 2011]
Ansoff and the Boston Matrix can’t help Kodak [6 Oct 2011]
Invention in a Bottle [28 Sep 2011]
Insights on invention from Trevor Bayliss [14 Sep 2011]
Waitrose Strategy Essay [13 Sep 2011]
Olaf takes the knife to management hierarchy [5 Sep 2011]
Can investment in R&D provide a competitive advantage? [31 Aug 2011]
How can Tesco’s be “Unscalable?”-First lesson/research task into companies in different markets [31 Aug 2011]
Where there’s muck there’s brass [6 Jul 2011]
Innovation and Persistence holds the Key for King of Shaves [4 Jul 2011]
Evan Davis ‘Made in Britain’ - and a new trade data tool to play with [21 Jun 2011]
The Chocolate Business Angel’s Views on Entrepreneurs [21 Jun 2011]
ResearchBuster: New Leaders and Strategic Change [16 Jun 2011]
Technology & innovation - extending the humble contact lense [9 Jun 2011]
Organic growth strategy - the benefits if firms “believe in better” [24 May 2011]
Jaguar goes for NPD investment with £5bn plan [10 May 2011]
Howard Schultz - A Changed Starbucks. A Changed C.E.O [13 Mar 2011]
Michael Porter - Shared Value and the Limitations of CSR [15 Feb 2011]
An idea that’s a lot of hot air…. [11 Jan 2011]
Innovation and ideas - what makes a successful business concept? [8 Jan 2011]
What strategy should HMV employ next? [6 Jan 2011]
Video case study - Harris Tweed prospers through innovation and international expansion [29 Dec 2010]
Innovation and Invention - the Toy Story [23 Dec 2010]
Innovative ice breakers to fill a market gap [2 Dec 2010]
Dominos Pizza - Growth & Strategy (Part 2) - Innovation, Service and Smart Operations [26 Nov 2010]
Dominos Pizza - Growth & Strategy (Part 1) - Driving Competitive Advantage [26 Nov 2010]
Leadership in action - A Day in the Life of Willie Walsh [25 Oct 2010]
Strategy - The Challenges Facing Nokia [21 Oct 2010]
Rationalising & Redeployment at Alliance Boots [9 Oct 2010]
Google on the changing face of advertising [8 Oct 2010]
Strategy in Action: “Buying Growth is Not a Strategy” [20 Sep 2010]
Can new leadership revive Nokia’s fortunes [12 Sep 2010]
Can small firms shrug off their recession trauma? [2 Sep 2010]
Strategy in action - Mitchell & Butlers stays focused [9 Aug 2010]
Essential business reading for the summer! [5 Aug 2010]
The technological wave in television - who will win the 3D battle? [30 Jul 2010]
Does Nokia’s Strategy Need An Upgraded CEO? [30 Jul 2010]
Retail banking through the ages - a pictoral guide [29 Jul 2010]
Sony’s Product Development Timeline [13 Jul 2010]
Rising industrial unrest in China [29 Jun 2010]
BUSS4 Recession Strategies - The Crucial Role of the Business Model [6 Jun 2010]
BUSS4 - Recession Strategy Lessons from Four Female Entrepreneurs [6 Jun 2010]
Strategy in Action - the Return of External Growth [28 May 2010]
Strategy Case Study - Asda Nets Netto [28 May 2010]
Some facinating data on research & development data at Apple, Google & Microsoft [25 May 2010]
Strategy Case Study - Vauxhall/Opel restructuring [24 May 2010]
Profit seeking paradoxes in an oblique world [15 May 2010]
Container shipping: the greatest business innovation of the 20th Century? [11 May 2010]
Book wars! [5 May 2010]
Starbucks - the Famous Strategic Change Memo from 2007 [21 Apr 2010]
Unilever in the recession - the CEO on strategy [25 Mar 2010]
Strategy in a recession - Don’t Panic Mr Mainwaring! [25 Feb 2010]
Strategy in a recession - global innovators keep investing [25 Feb 2010]
Strategies for the Recession - Insights from Six Restaurant Group CEOs [19 Feb 2010]
Strategic reaction to the UK recession - notes and observations [9 Feb 2010]
Companies that thrived in the UK recession - theme activity [1 Feb 2010]
What business students can learn from how businesses have handled the recession [1 Feb 2010]
Teaching strategy - Starbucks revisited [24 Jan 2010]
Innovation - Is Entertainment Letting Us Down? [2 Jan 2010]
Revision Presentation - Innovation & Invention for New Businesses [1 Jan 2010]
Could the ‘Yes and…’ game help prepare for case study exams? [17 Dec 2009]
Breakfast for $1 tests price elasticity of demand [12 Dec 2009]

BUSINESS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Get first news of business teaching resources, ideas and other materials from tutor2u. Over 9,400 business teachers from the UK and around the world receive our regular teacher email newsletters. Sign up for free here!