FT to keep “chargewall”; a door policy improves audience quality
Guardian (London) - February 26, 2007 http://media.guardian.co.uk/city/story/0,,2021582,00.html
Pearson rethinks FT website Richard Wray, communications editor =
The proliferation of voices on the internet, with millions of people =
posting their views on blogs and online communities, has caused =
Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, to rethink opening up its =
flagship FT.com website.
Pearson chief executive Dame Marjorie Scardino, announcing a strong =
19% rise in annual profits to =A3502m, admitted that FT.com is likely =
to continue to rely on subscription revenues, retaining its so-called =
‘chargewall’.
“As debate online has become more diffuse - hundreds of thousands or =
millions of voices on each topic - it has become less helpful in a =
way,” she said. “The trend now online seems to be some sort of =
mediation and we think we might have a role there.”
Her comments represent a U-turn. At the time of the company’s interim =
results in July she voiced concerns that the FT’s ability to take =
part in the growing online debate was being hampered by subscription =
fees.
But she said today that the 90,000 subscribers to FT.com represent a =
“rarified audience” including senior figures in business and politics =
across the world and “We have found that to some extent with the =
quality of audience we have got we can provoke the discussion”.
“This is not a typical online discussion where people do not reveal =
who they are,” she said of some recent FT.com forums.
Last year the FT newspaper and website saw profits jump by =A39m to =
=A311m due to rising advertising and a raft of cost cuts - including =
the axing of 50 journalists and the creation of an integrated web and =
newspaper newsroom.
Sales were up 8% to =A3238m, with advertising revenues increasing 9% =
and the advertising market remains buoyant going into 2007.
“Our forward books are up ahead of last year. We had very few forward =
bookings at all last year, it was all spur of the moment,” she added.
Dame Marjorie also defended the FT’s practice of printing three =
international editions - in Europe, Asia and the US - alongside its =
UK paper, despite speculation that it loses money on all of them.
The US, European and UK editions all sell about 140,000 copies, the =
Asian edition pulls in a mere 20,000.
But she said advertisers found the different editions attractive with =
almost half of the FT’s advertising booked for all four editions =
worldwide.
Despite this, any further segmentation of the FT Group - such as into =
new specific industry areas - will be done online.
Pearson reported a record set of annual results with sales of =A34.4bn =
up from =A34bn in the previous year as its education business =
outperformed the rest of the market, book empire Penguin had a raft =
of bestsellers and the FT Publishing business put on a strong =
performance.
Profits at Penguin increased to =A366m from =A360m as sales rose =A344m to =
=A3848m on the back of strong sellers such as The Kite Runner and A =
Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.
This year Penguin is hoping for success from books by Alan Greenspan =
and Al Gore.
There has been talk that Pearson might sell off either the FT or =
Penguin. While refusing to be drawn on the issue, Dame Marjorie =
stressed that there are cost synergies to be made having them all =
within one group.
She also seemed to rule out becoming involved in the bidding for the =
educational publishing assets put up for sale recently by rivals Reed =
Elsevier and Thomson, although admitting that their sales will “give =
us the advantage of a period of disruption among our competitors”.
Finally, there has also been speculation about Dame Marjorie’s own =
future at Pearson. She has clocked up 10 years as chief executive and =
last month turned 60.
“I have been here for a while it’s true but we have had a lot of work =
to do to make this the kind of company we wanted to,” she said. “We =
have had to change a lot but it has never been as thrilling an =
atmosphere as we are now in.”