The owner of the Daily Mail is to scrap its MailOnline brand as the publisher seeks to boost digital subscriptions.
MailOnline, which is known for its celebrity news and “sidebar of shame”, will be renamed Daily Mail as the news group moves all its digital outlets under a single brand.
In an email to staff, Ted Verity, the Daily Mail editor, and Danny Groom, the MailOnline boss, said the move would “eliminate any reader confusion and help us fully harness the editorial and commercial power of one of the most respected media brands on the planet”.
They added that the rebrand would allow the Daily Mail to create one large global audience across both apps and desktop, as well as social media sites including YouTube and TikTok.
The publisher is planning to revamp the website and make improvements to its app as well as launching a slate of newsletters. A spokesman declined to comment on whether the content or tone of the website would change as a result of the overhaul.
It marks the latest effort by the 129-year-old newspaper group to drag its operations into the digital age by combining its print and digital titles.
Journalists and editors are now working on stories for the website and newspapers, which bosses said will reduce “unnecessary duplication” that saw the group produce multiple versions of the same story to run on different outlets.
The Mail on Sunday will also be further integrated as it moves to a seven-day operation.
Brutal layoffs
The overhaul has sparked a brutal series of layoffs at the Mail in recent months. One insider described the remaining workforce as “threadbare”.
Despite the cuts, bosses outlined a new target of reaching one million digital subscribers in the next three years.
The editors wrote: “We are publicly sharing this goal today because we want everyone across the business to understand how vitally important subscriptions are to our company’s future.
“It can only be achieved if we all pull together in the same direction.”
The Daily Mail, which is owned by Lord Rothermere, has been slow to adapt to the digital age and is still heavily reliant on advertising revenues.
However, it has ramped up its modernisation efforts in recent years, launching a subscription service charging readers for access to a small number of articles.
Mail+ has attracted over 230,000 subscribers since its launch 18 months ago. Combined with readers paying to read the newspaper on the digital Mail+ Editions app, the publisher has around 325,000 subscribers – a third of the way to its target.
The Mail has also increased its focus on podcasts, as well as its UAE-headquartered events arm that runs exhibitions and conferences in the Middle East.
Bosses said the company was also investing heavily in new editorial software, including data analytics and new creative tools.
Mr Groom added: “Our industry is changing at a breathtaking pace and we are confident our new One Daily Mail, One Million strategy will put us in the strongest possible position to thrive in the years ahead.
“We are fortunate to have an extraordinarily loyal and engaged direct audience. Pulling together this vast global readership under one prestigious, world-famous brand will unlock new commercial opportunities and give us the power to take on our global rivals.”
