A Place In MySun
By Neil Dodds
16 March, 2006
At last some hint from News Corp as to how Rupert Murdoch plans to exploit his new half-a-billion acquisition MySpace.
According to reports in the Guardian, News Corp will link MySpace to The Sun's website to create an online readers network called "MySun."
Sun readers could do pretty much everything MySpace users do - post blogs, music, video, images, network with friends - but would do so under the MySun banner.
Apparently Murdoch's other UK newspaper, The Times, was considered for the link-up, but the company believed The Sun offered a more suitable audience profile.
It's an interesting beginning: The Sun is Britain's biggest-selling daily newspaper, but its web presence has been underwhelming compared to the products of more upmarket dailies such as The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times. Linking with MySpace brings the newspaper closer to the 16-35 age group - who spend money on ringtones, video games and music downloads. It also hitches the newspaper to new trends in music: Up and coming bands now have popular MySpace home pages before they release their first record. It's likely new films and wannabe celebrities will do the same.
While the report claims that MySpace overtook the BBC's website in visitor numbers last year, by far the largest proportion of MySpace's 60 million plus members are in the United States. Here, Murdoch has if anything an even higher profile as owner of Fox Studios. It's likely that MySpace will be used to cross-promote Fox TV shows and movies, both as short term mini-sites and MySun-style spaces where fans can create pages based on their favourite shows.
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