Sun King Counts His Bingo Balls
12th November, 2007
Mike Anderson, managing director of Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers is in charge of The Sun and its sister paper, the News of the World. For the longest time, it’s always been The Sun versus the Daily Mirror. But recently, Anderson’s goals have been set higher, thanks to the success of the digital world, especially when it comes to bingo.
At a time when the newspaper industry seems to be heading towards disaster, Anderson seems to be just fine. Thanks to the versatility of the name, The Sun is a newspaper associated with more than just some black and white print.
“I think we are the only newspaper that overtly markets itself as paper, online, and mobile. It’s the combination of those three things which is the really important result. We do not look in isolation around newspaper circulation; that’s just one element.”
Thanks to The Sun’s diversification, success comes much easier than for some papers, who seem to be stuck in the past. Extending their brand into new realms, such as the ever-popular online bingo world, has given them the edge, and some nice side profits.
Sun Bingo, staffed by “about three people”, according to Anderson, costs only 10p a card, and generated £3.8 million in the last financial year. He sees the fortune that he has come to by creating such a simple element to The Sun, and basically sitting back and watching the profits grow.
“Put it this way, Sun Bingo makes twice the profits of something like…well, the Evening Standard doesn’t make any money. I’ve made more money out of running Sun Bingo online than I ever made out of running the Evening Standard, okay?” Anderson reveled.
Anderson is off to Las Vegas for the latest online gambling conference in order to find yet more ways to earn money off Sun Bingo. Interesting in giving online bingo a try? Read our full review of Sun Bingo here, or check out some more great online bingo sites.
