INM digital boss leaves media group to ‘pursue other interests’

Independent News & Media’s managing director of digital, Fiona O’Carroll, is leaving the group, the company has confirmed.

INM said Ms O’Carroll, who joined the group in September 2013, had decided it was “the appropriate time” to pursue other interests.

Ms O'Carroll, who had previously held senior roles in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Vivendi Universal Games and Adobe, was appointed to the newly created position in August 2013 by former chief executive Vincent Crowley.

Her job was to develop revenues from Independent.ie and BelfastTelegraph.co.uk, as well as drive growth across a range of classified and e-commerce properties, including INM’s consumer deals site Grabone.ie.

Her appointment was followed by a recruitment drive in INM’s digital division, including a call last summer for “digital risk-takers” to apply for about 40 advertised positions.

INM said Ms O’Carroll and her team had “delivered excellent results” in 2014 and that its digital operations were now “well placed” for future growth. It thanked her for her “passion and commitment to the start-up and foundation stages” of the digital business.

Digital advertising revenues grew 37.5 per cent at the group last year, more than offsetting the decline in advertising income from its print publications.

Robert Pitt, who took the reins as INM chief executive last autumn, said last month that he believed there was "an awful lot more opportunity" for digital revenues to grow.

“We have heavily invested into our digital team, not just in journalism and editorial content, but also in preparing advertising campaigns,” he said.

The group recently appointed a commissioning editor of native content, which is a type of advertising that mimics the format of editorial content.