FT: Readers who comment are more engaged

The Financial Times has found that those who leave comments read more articles, spend more time on site and come back to the FT more often than those who don’t, reports Lucinda Southern of Digiday.

Southern writes, “The FT wouldn’t give out exact figures but said that commenters are seven times more engaged than those who don’t comment.

“‘There is an element of chicken and egg about this,’ admits community manager Lilah Raptopoulos, whose aim is to encourage more active comment threads on site and to reach new readers to join the debate. Only those registered to The FT can leave comments — commenters don’t have to reveal their identity, whether they’ve simply signed up for a trial or are full-fledged subscribers (it has 647,000 digital subscribers). Ultimately, The FT wants to drive subscriptions, but working out how reader outreach fits into this is difficult, said Raptopoulos.

“This year, The FT is running a series called The Europopulists, tracking the rise of political far-right groups in countries holding elections, including The Netherlands, France and Germany. Over the last 12 months, digital subscriptions in the Netherlands grew 14 percent (the overall subscriber base grew by 8 percent), indicating interest from a Dutch readership.”

Read more here.