FT starts analytics tool for its journalists

The Financial Times started Thursday an editorial analytics dashboard for the newsroom called Lantern that will provide journalists with data to understand the impact of stories and how audiences are engaging with them.

Lantern focuses on reader engagement rather than visits or page views. Other elements are given just as much weight: depth of scroll, time spent on page, traffic source, and device breakdown.

FT also has a company-wide engagement metric that measures the frequency of visits, time spent reading, and the volume of articles read.

Renée Kaplan, the FT’s head of audience engagement, said: “The goal of Lantern is simple: to bring data into the newsroom in a clear, practical way. Our aim is to demystify data and empower our journalists in real time. Understanding what stories are topical and relevant to different audiences will in turn lead to a better experience for our readers.”

General editorial access to the dashboard is coupled with beat-specific analysis by the audience engagement team, allowing the newsroom to understand more about reader preferences and the impact of editorial decisions.