Tag Archives: Financial Times
Why the FT is launching a publication for investment advisors
by Chris Roush
Kelly O’Mara of RIABiz writes about the launch of a publication called FA IQ by the Financial Times that is aimed at financial advisors.
O’Mara writes, “Financial Times-owned Money-Media has launched a free online publication aimed at independent financial advisors. Managing editor Joan Warner says that FA IQ, which made its debut April 11, will fill a different niche than Money-Media’s other investment-oriented publications, Ignites and FundFire, with very little cross-over among them. But in a crowded marketplace (which includes RIABiz), competitors are skeptical about the online publication’s chances of finding an audience.
“‘There’s lots of apples and oranges, and if all you come to market with is a different variety of orange, good luck,’ says Jim Lowell, who publishes a newsletter about Fidelity and edits Forbes’ ETF Advisor publication.
“Warner says that FundFire and Ignites, which are subscription-based publications, ‘already have a fairly substantial readership coming from advisors.’ However, FundFire is primarily about separately managed accounts, and Ignites serves the mutual fund industry. ‘Over the years, we just heard a clamoring [from advisors] for a publication of their own.’
“Warner is hoping that FA IQ, which focuses on practice management and client relationships, will meet that need. While other Money-Media publications are all relatively news-focused, FA IQ will do primarily ‘service-y’ articles with a timely element, she says.”
Read more here.
The FT’s secret weapon is data
by Chris Roush
Lauren Indvik of Mashable writes Tuesday about The Financial Times, which is growing its online and digital presence by closing watching the numbers.
Indvik writes, “The FT was well ahead of this trend, introducing a metered access model in 2007. Today, subscriptions make up more than half of the FT Group’s revenue, while advertising only accounts for 39%, down from 52% in 2008. At the FT specifically, advertising once made up as much as 70% of yearly revenue. This year, the paper expects to generate more money from subscriptions than from advertising.
“‘That’s a big deal in the transformation of our business model,’ John Ridding, CEO of the FT, said in a sit-down interview at Pearson’s U.S. headquarters last month. Ridding joined the FT from the editorial side, reporting abroad from Paris and Korea before taking on a series of executive positions, including editor and publisher of FT Asia. He was named chief executive of the paper in 2006, assuming the CEO role of the entire FT Group for the first time this month.
“I asked Ridding how the FT was able to increase its subscriber levels by more than a quarter in the last five years. ‘It’s sort of a combination of art and science,’ he says. ‘Five or six years ago we started a new media model, charging for access through a metered system. When we started doing that, it was primarily to build a revenue stream online, but probably what was more important over time was the data and customer insight that that gave us. That’s what transformed the business,’ he says.
“Looking through some of the reader data — the FT‘s data team now numbers more than 30 across three groups — the FT was able to recognize the kinds of patterns readers display before purchasing subscriptions. ‘We would see the sort of articles they were reading and the frequency they were reading those articles, for instance, and we began to map those,’ Ridding explains. ‘People do behave in predictable ways.’”
Read more here.
Financial Times launching new app for iPad
by Chris Roush
FT.com managing editor Robert Shrimsley previews the changes to the paper’s iPad application in this video:
Can the FT’s success be replicated by others?
by Chris Roush
Jeff John Roberts of PaidContent.org wonders whether The Financial Times‘ success in becoming a digital media operation can be copied at other media organizations.
Roberts writes, “If a publisher can come to occupy such a niche, they may enjoy the same virtuous cycle as the FT where margins rise with digital revenue while distribution costs stay nearly fixed.
“But it’s hard to see how the FT case study can apply to anyone other than the FT. Recall that even the New York Times is struggling to ‘cross over;’ its digital revenues are rising but, overall, the paper’s overall operations are shrinking. The Wall Street Journal, with a similar global business niche, may be the only other publisher with a hope of crossing over this year.
“Doctor also cites the FT’s 30-person data and analytics team as integral to the company’s digital transition. He points out that such teams can supply critical intelligence about customer targeting and revenue optimization. But do other publications, which can no longer afford copy editors, have the means to hire dozens of data scientists? Probably not.
“How many other newspaper and magazine brands can you name that even stand a chance of making this crossover?”
Read more here.
The data behind the FT’s success
by Chris Roush
Ken Doctor writes for the Nieman Journalism Lab about how the Financial Times has successfully made the transition from a print-only publication into one that focuses on digital delivery.
Doctor writes, “Want to know the secret sauce of the FT’s industry-leading crossover percentage? In Feburary, it offered these numbers: 286,000 print subscribers and 316,000 digital subscribers — the first newspaper to see digital surpass print. Of those 316,000 digital subs, though, 163,780 — or 51 percent of them — are subscriptions bought by companies for their employees. These are business-to-business sales, rather than business-to-consumer sales. Those are the fruit of another ahead-of-the-pack move by the FT. Under Caspar de Bono, FT Direct Licensing has built an first-of-its-kind direct business. Rather than leaving B2B customer sales relationships to aggregators like Lexis Nexis and News Corp.’s Factiva, the FT began converting corporate FT buyers to direct relationships in 2008. It sold those 163,000 digital subs through 2,787 separate annual licenses, up 40 percent from 2011. It also sells an additional 13,000 newspapers a day under these contracts for people who still like the feel of old-fashioned print. In addition, the FT has now extending its direct license business beyond companies to the education industry.
“Does this understanding of how the FT achieved its milestone change our sense of its crossover success? Yes and no. The FT, given its audience, had a unique ability to sell corporate subscriptions directly — and it took advantage of it. For most daily newspaper companies, the direct corporate license business is a stretch. Still, the notion of such licenses or group purchases, discounted or not — behind a paywall product — should encourage local publishers to think of local businesses, school districts, government offices, and PTAs in a new way. If dailies’ news and information are as critical locally as the FT’s is to a global business clientele, why not test a new model?”
Read more here.
Pearson CEO: Fewer FT jobs in U.S. and England
by Chris Roush
The chief executive officer of Pearson PLC told staff at the Financial Times Monday that there will be fewer jobs in the U.S. and U.K. as the publisher focuses on emerging markets, according to a person who attended the meeting.
Kristen Schweizer of Bloomberg News writes, “FT Group CEO John Ridding, who joined Fallon at the meeting, said that while losing some positions will be the most difficult part of the restructuring, maintaining the current situation isn’t possible, the person said. Neither executive specified which departments would be affected, according to the person.
“The structural change under way in the newspaper industry makes it necessary to act more hastily, Ridding said, according to the person. Changes include adding more jobs in Brazil, India and China, and embedding FT videos in educational materials at Pearson-owned schools.
“Fallon, who took over from Marjorie Scardino in January, also told staff that the Financial Times isn’t for sale and that every Pearson unit has to be sustainable, according to the person.”
Read more here.
FT Group revenue up 4 percent in 2012
by Chris Roush
The Financial Times Group, which operates the business newspaper, reported a 4 percent increase in revenue in 2012.
In addition, digital and services now account for 50 percent of FT Group revenues, up from 31 percent in 2008, according to data released Monday.
Content revenues comprised 61 percent of total revenues, up from 48 percent in 2008, while advertising accounted for 39 percent FT Group revenues, down from 52 percent in 2008.
The FT’s total paid circulation was more than 602,000 across print and online, modestly up on 2011, with digital subscriptions exceeding print circulation for the first time. Digital subscriptions increased 18 percent to almost 316,000.
Mobile devices now account for 30 percent of FT.com traffic and 15 percent of new subscriptions. FT Web App now has 3.5 million users.
The FT now has almost 2,800 direct corporate licenses, up 40 percent on 2011.
Read more here.
Pearson CEO: FT is not for sale
by Chris Roush
Sarah Young of Reuters is reporting that Pearson PLC has no plans to sell The Financial Times, as has been rumored.
Young writes, “The new chief executive of British education and media group Pearson said the Financial Times (FT) is not for sale, refuting repeated media speculation about the newspaper’s future at the company.
“‘The FT is a valued and valuable part of Pearson. I have said the business is not for sale, nor have we initiated, conducted, encouraged in any shape or form, any sort of process whatsoever, nor have I had any conversations with anybody about the sale of the FT,’ Chief executive John Fallon said when asked about the newspaper on a call with reporters on Monday.
“The company said earlier it expects this year’s earnings to be flat on 2012 and it will start a 150 million pound restructuring plan.”
Read more here.
FT content now available on HTC BlinkFeed news aggregator
by Chris Roush
The Financial Times is partnering with HTC for the launch of HTC BlinkFeed, a news aggregator available on the new HTC One smartphones devices, offering select FT content for free.
HTC BlinkFeed brings content to the device’s home screen, enabling users to see content that is most interesting to them without having to open a series of apps. It offers instant access to a continuous feed of aggregated content, including daily blog posts and videos from the Financial Times. A limited amount of FT content is free, but readers will have to register and subscribe if they wish to read further articles.
FT.com managing director Rob Grimshaw said: “This move supports the FT’s successful channel neutral strategy, offering our readers flexibility and freedom of choice in how they choose to receive our content. As well as being on HTC BlinkFeed, FT content is available on News Republic, the multi-platform news aggregator app from personal mobile media company, Mobiles Republic. Mobile is an important channel for the Financial Times, driving around a third of traffic to FT.com and 15 percent of subscriptions.”
The FT web app, launched in June 2011, now has more than 3.5 million users.
The FT Windows 8 app launched in August 2011 and extended the FT’s mobile footprint across all three major tablet platforms (Windows, Apple and Android), giving readers more flexibility in accessing FT content.
FT reporter returning to Huffington Post
by Chris Roush
Shahien Nasiripour, who left the Huffington Post in 2011 to join the Financial Times as a financial and regulatory reporter, is returning to HuffPo.
Nasiripour was a senior business reporter at Huffington Post from 2009 to 2011. In his new job, he will “be on the financial and regulatory beat, including Wall Street, Washington policy, and the global response to the financial crisis,” according to a memo from Arianna Huffington obtained by Joe Pompeo of Capital New York.
Previously, Nasiripour was a reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting, the nation’s oldest nonprofit investigative news organization. He’s worked as a researcher for ESPN and as a reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Providence Journal.
He is a graduate of the University of Southern California.
