Brand
3am.co.uk
Owner
Trinity Mirror
What's happened?
Website has launched
In 3am.co.uk, Trinity Mirror is pushing further into the digital space. Intended to be "innovative, clever, funny and brilliantly designed" - Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace's words, not mine - the site certainly stands out upon loading.
The starry purple background, combined with big pictures and catchy title copy, certainly grabs your attention; those even remotely interested in celebrity culture can't fail to look at a couple of stories at the very least. There's loads of content, regular use of video and, combined with a diary of events and a celebrity news finder, it is likely to be very appealing to the target audience.
It is a sensible move by Trinity Mirror to launch a stand-alone celebrity site, because the content
is spot on for the web. Having it housed in a celebrity section of the mirror.co.uk site limited its potential.
Some would say the site has come a bit late in the day and has allowed others to steal a march on it, but with the best-known gossip sites being American (TMZ and Perez Hilton) and pretty ugly to boot, I can definitely see this site appealing to British audiences and advertisers.
As with all publisher sites, the critical components of success are being able to attract audience and advertisers - and here I can't help thinking more thought has been put into the former than the latter.
With three ads on each page, two of which are below the fold, it seems that 3am.co.uk is destined to sell lots of low-priced inventory, rather than maximising page yields via impactful ads that stand out on the page and appeal to those advertisers looking for brand effect.
What's good?
Clear and eye-catching page design.
What could be better?
Pages that also work for advertisers.
Would I book my clients onto this?
Yes, we already do, but I'm sorry to say it is part of a network buy. Partnerships could be of interest.
Matt Simpson, Head of digital, OMD Group