Categories: OLD Media Moves

Pearson's strategy is to boost FT's worldwide recognition

Carolyn Murphy of TheDeal.com wrote Wednesday that the sale of the Financial Times edition in Germany shows that Pearson plc is retreating from an eight-year attempt to be the dominant German financial daily to concentrate on what it sees as a more attainable goal — boosting the FT brand worldwide and improving its digital financial information business.

Murphy wrote, “It seems some consumer research returned the result that nonreaders and younger managers perceived the FT as inaccessible and old-fashioned, the company said.

“So, in April, the company launched a new ad campaign aimed at ‘capturing the energy and excitement of modern business,’ as well as a direct marketing campaign. At the same time, the FT unveiled a facelift, with plans to add more color pages and execute design and content changes to its magazines. The company also hired some new editorial blood. The next month, the FT launched a sponsored magazine focused on the business of sports and premiered with America’s Cup and Formula One racing. It was the first launch by the FT’s then-new strategic development unit.

“On the Web front, Pearson in October came down on both sides of a strategy many media companies have experimented with: paid content. The company unveiled plans to open up FT’s online content for free, sort of, with a ‘light touch’ registration fee for readers who want access to more than 30 articles per month.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

Recent Posts

WSJ’s Brown is leaving publication

Ken Brown of The Wall Street Journal is leaving the news organization. He is an…

11 hours ago

Jones will not seek another Dow Jones News Fund board term

Dow Jones News Fund President Brent W. Jones announced at the nonprofit journalism training organization’s…

11 hours ago

Bloomberg hires Clark to cover VC and startups

Jillian Ward, managing editor for U.S. technology at Bloomberg News, sent the following note to…

11 hours ago

Berke of STAT News on the importance of its coverage

Rick Berke, a co-founded and executive editor of STAT News, writes about the importance of…

12 hours ago

Maxwell joins Gizmodo as a tech reporter

Thomas Maxwell has joined Gizmodo as a tech reporter. He previously was at Business Insider covering…

16 hours ago

Banking Times acquires The New Fiver

Banking Times has acquired the domain name "The New Fiver" for an undisclosed amount, aiming…

1 day ago