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Daily Mail will expand internationally online, says DMGT chairman

Posted: 20/05/08 By: Laura Oliver

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The Daily Mail plans to further its international presence with the launch of a website in India, the chairman of the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) board has said.

Giving evidence today to the House of Lords Communications Committee, Lord Rothermere said the paper was considering building a website in India to capitalise on the 'global potential of the Daily Mail'.

Global expansion would build on existing partnerships with the Washington Post and Today Media in India, with which it recently launched print title Mail Today.

"We believe we are going to have to invest in that area [international expansion] and there is a huge opportunity for us in the global sphere," said Rothermere.

Figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe) last July suggested a significant international audience for the Mail, with 78 per cent of its unique users coming from outside the UK, a figure it has maintained and built on since.

In October, Mail Online editorial director Martin Clarke said the publication was looking at a shift of commercial focus - away from concentrating solely on the UK market - to reap the potential offered by its large international readership.

In 'an ideal world' the Mail would build on this growing international audience with multiple international titles, Rothermere tols the Lords Committee, but international ownership regulations had shifted the emphasis from launching international print titles onto online expansion.

"For relatively little extra cost, we can grow our unique user base quite substantially," he said.

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