Trinity Mirror Digital unveils ‘ic’-branded showbiz site

Trinity Mirror Digital, the Internet arm of Trinity Mirror Group, has launched the first of several content-based websites.

Icshowbiz.com extends the ic brand that TMD is trying to build. Until now, it has focused on its ic24.com free ISP, which claims 700,000 users. There have been several regional spin-offs, such as icscotland.com, but the new showbiz site is the first standalone offering based solely on content.

David Clarke, managing director of TMD, expects most icshowbiz.com users will be women. The site’s technology allows TMD to tap into content – current and past – from the Mirror newspapers.

As well celebrity-based stories, the site will feature TV and local entertainment listings.

Further ic branded websites will appear in the new year. A consumer champion site is due to launch in February, followed by a sports site.

TMD seems to be taking a very different approach to new media to rival Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch launched an ISP, Thebun.com, but sold it to World Online. He now seems more interested in interactive TV.

TMD’s Clarke says: “Our view is that new media is about generating the largest possible audience and taking lots of very small slices of revenue from it – rather than the other way round.”