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Carlowlive is a news website serving Carlow, a town of approximately 30,000 people in County Carlow. Carlowlive was launched in 2018 by Iconic Media as part of Iconic’s push towards a ‘‘digital first’ trends in the Irish news industry. Some owners (such as Mediahuis) have announced plans to phase out print publications altogether due to declining print circulation and increasing costs. It is important to note, however, that unlike most other Iconic ‘live’ websites, Carlowlive did not emerge from a print publication and was instead created as a digital-only entity. (There is a Carlow-based newspaper, the Carlow Nationalist but it is part of the Irish Times group.)


There is a degree of opacity around the curation of content on centralised news sites compared to local titles. For example, information regarding management of Carlowlive and its content is not provided on the website. The only contact information provided is a general email address for advertising and news. Nor do there appear to be any dedicated editorial staff for the website: Carlow-related stories are often simply credited to “Reporter” and where actual bylines are used the journalists in question appear to be based outside Carlow. As such it appears that journalistic staff at Iconic’s Digital Content Hub are tasked with seeking out Carlow-related stories (and therefore not always recounting events in Carlow itself) and publishing them on the website.


That, like Iconic’s other local websites, much of the material is either national or drawn from other localities covered by Iconic’s print titles represents another layer of de-localisation in the Irish news industry. Irish newspaper ownership has become increasingly concentrated in the 21st century, and Iconic (Media Concierge) is now Ireland’s largest holder of local and regional papers, with 18 titles.


Iconic Newspapers is owned by Media Concierge Holdings Group Limited, which is in turn owned by The Denmark Family, with UK businessman Callum Denmark as the controlling shareholder.


(Last updated in May 2026)

Key Facts

Audience ShareMissing Data
Ownership TypePrivate
Geographic CoverageLocal
Content TypeFree
Data Publicly Available
ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.
Operating CompanyForm Press Publishing
Identifier: Limited Liability Company, Companies Registration Office (CRO) Company Number: IE538870

Ownership

Ownership Structure

Carlowlive is operated by Formpress Publishing Limited, which is owned by Iconic Newspapers Limited. The parent organisation of Iconic Newspapers Limited is Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited (previously Mediaforce (Holdings) Limited). The Denmark Family is the sole owner of the media group. Callum Denmark, who owns 75.1% of shares, is identified as the controlling shareholder in accounts filed with Companies House in the UK for Media Concierge Holdings Group Limited. The remaining company shares are owned by T.C. Denmark (24.1%), and V.M. Denmark (0.9%) and previous controlling shareholder Malcolm Denmark with a single share.

Voting RightsCallum Denmark is identified as the controlling shareholder in accounts filed with Companies House in the UK for Media Concierge Holdings Group Limited.
Individual Owner

Operating Company

Facts

Founding Year2021

Iconic Newspapers (owned by Media Concierge Holdings Ltd., previously known as Mediaforce) owns 18 newspaper titles throughout the Republic of Ireland. Iconic purchased 14 of these papers, including the Mayo News, from Johnstown Press in a 2014 acquisition.
Iconic has especially focused on modernising and digitising its Irish newspaper stable by providing news sites for all papers, sometimes consolidating regional papers under a single site (e.g., Donegallive.ie). All Iconic news websites include 'live' at the end of their URLs. News content appearing on these websites is free to access, though the e-paper versions of the local papers require a subscription. Unlike Mediahuis, Iconic has not publicly stated that it is phasing out print newspapers in favour of news sites.
Iconic’s parent company, Mediaforce, also owns Mediaforce Ireland Limited (Mediaforce Ireland) which acts as a conduit for the channelling of national advertising to local and regional newspapers in the State, including titles which are not part of the Iconic Newspaper Group. Given the potential conflict interest in Mediaforce’s simultaneous ownership of an advertising sales agency and the largest single block of regional newspaper titles in Ireland, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has made approval of Iconic acquisitions of additional print titles subject to the receipt of assurances guarantees that Iconic/Mediaforce will not abuse their market power.

CEO
  • Callum Denmark

    Callum Denmark became CEO of Media Concierge Holdings Group Limited in November 2025, replacing his father Malcolm. (Malcolm Denmark is an advertising executive who established Mediaforce UK in 1985, an advertising agency which represented media owners to advertising agencies.) At the time, Mediaforce focused mainly on regional outlets across the UK. However, the business now includes the production and distribution of inserts in local and national titles. It has also expanded into print and online outlet ownership through an aggressive acquisition policy focusing on regional and local media publishers in the UK and Ireland.

    As such Callum inherited Media Concierge (Holdings) Ltd., which has ventured into business activities that encompass a full range of advertising services such as representation, marketing, publishing, and distribution for Iconic Media in Ireland (Mediaforce Ireland/Formpress), which is the news publishing section of his business. In addition to media businesses,
    Malcolm Denmark owned 75.2% of Media Concierge until November 2025, alongside his son Callum Nicolas Denmark’s 15%, his daughter Tara Clare Denmark’s 9% and Valerie Mary Denmark (born 1957) 0.76%. In November 2025, Malcolm stood down as beneficial owner and was replaced by Callum Denmark. Of the 30.4m shares in the company, 75.1% are held by Callum, 24.9% by Tara, 0.9% by Valerie with Malcolm retaining a single share.

Editor-In-Chief
  • Missing Data

    Carlowlive does not appear to have dedicated journalism staff. Bylines are either credited to “Reporter” or to Iconic Media journalists based outside Carlow.

ContactMissing Data
news@carlowlive.ie
www.carlowlive.ie
RevenueMissing Data
Operating ProfitMissing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)Missing Data
Market ShareMissing Data
Headlines
Meta Data

Ownership and financial information was gathered from the FAME Database (Moody’s) regarding Formpress Publishing Limited, Iconic Newspapers Limited, and Media Concierge Holdings Group Limited. Information was also accessed from Companies House in the UK.

Accurate estimation of outlet market share was not possible because reporting on income levels in Ireland is typically done at the group level rather than the individual title level. Additionally, overall revenue details for the market as a whole are not available.
Accurate estimation of audience share of news sites is not possible. Although Kantar collects publicly available figures on readership for national print titles, parallel figures are not available for regional and local newspapers and their websites. Furthermore, the ‘advertise with use’ sections of Iconic’s ‘Live’ websites do not provide information on page visits and only present consolidated readership numbers across print, website and social media.

Sources
Documents (PDF)
  • Compiled Financial Data Formpress Publishing Limited
    Link File
  • Financial Statement Formpress Publishing Limited (2023)
    Link File