26 July 2010 | Author: J. Morton Search Copywriter

Financial Times sees readership and revenues grow under tiered payment scheme

With the newspaper industry still currently struggling with new technologies offering readers an increased diversity of information sources - and, most importantly, free access - the Financial Times has reported some positive news for the old guard of print publications.

Online readership for FT Group - a collection of publications, of which Financial Times is the flagship - jumped 27 per cent on 2009 figures to 149,000, and user registration on FT.com has spiked by 77 per cent to 2.5 million registered users.

The Financial Times online operates a limited-use free access site, where registering allows users to access around 10 articles per month and some of the site's features. Further features and unlimited news access can be purchased at two tiers through the portal.

The company also reported a tally of 250,000 downloads for its iPad reader app, which indicates that more users are reading on new tech devices such as the Apple tablet.

The findings represent a stark contrast - and perhaps a glimmer of hope - to the Times' recent switchover to a full-on online payment scheme. The Rupert Murdoch-owned publication suffered from sagging readership numbers following its pay-to-play policy implementation.

The site lost around 60 per cent of its online readership simply by asking for an online registration form to be filled out before viewing the paper's stories.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, FT Group's parent company, which also operates Penguin and its own educational publishing empire, said the success was due to investment in the digital sphere.

However, she also noted that there was still the second half of 2010 to contend with.

"The 2010 finish line isn't yet in sight, but this is as good a start to our year as I've seen. That boosts our confidence in the full year, enabling us to brighten our outlook and raise our guidance," she said.