Financial Times Opts Out of ABCe Analysis

UK newspaper the Financial Times has become the first national daily to opt out of the online circulation analysis of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABCe). The FT says volume traffic measures have become 'less relevant to its advertisers and clients'.

The decision will not surprise many observers given other recent developments in the online news industry: in particular, the rise of paid-for content, spearheaded by the FT itself; a similar recent withdrawal from ABCe usage by News International last month; and the FT's launch last week of its own multi-source audience measurement solution.

The determination of FT Chief Exec John Ridding to pursue the policy of charging for viewing its online content (after an initial free allotment of ten items per reader) has apparently been vindicated by a strong rise in its content-based income, which is billed to overtake advertising revenue for the first time in its history, sometime soon. (www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/01/financial_times_paywall_finally_pays_off.php ). In a speech last July, FT Editor Lionel Barber predicted that 'almost all' news organisations would be charging for online content within the next 12 months - in the event, too short a time frame but perhaps still prophetic.

Last month, Rupert Murdoch's News International announced it would withhold monthly ABCe figures for all its channels and publications, anticipating the launch of a paywall by Times Online next month. News Corp says it 'continues to work with ABCe' as members, but Murdoch plans to introduce charges for all the company's online content, including The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and News of the World. This month Massachusetts local paper The Standard-Times became the first of Murdoch's publications to charge for online content, and Times Online is expected to introduce a so-called 'pay wall' in the next few months.

Last week the FT launched its own audience measurement solution, ADGA, which combines measures of the number reading its news in print and online, and which it hopes to market to others in the newspaper industry. The paper says ADGA is a response to the needs of media partners seeking more 'comprehensive and relevant' audience analysis across the industry, at a time when 'traditional, single-channel audience measures' have lost relevance due to the rapid expansion of digital channels.

ADGA, which is independently audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), uses a combination of sources including syndicated national and regional readership surveys, unique user and browser data, FT research based on large samples of its reader/user base, and ABC circulation figures.

ABCe's MD Richard Foan says his organisation's standards are well-supported - by almost 300 companies - but continue to develop rapidly along with the whole digital sector, and will 'continue to be relevant to the industry as it evolves'.

Evolution, of course, is often linked to the survival of the fittest, and responding to the rise of free online content has already become a matter of life and death for many traditional publications. What is surprising is that it has taken this long for some of the 'fittest' papers - among which the FT surely ranks - to make a decisive move. The fear of being 'undercut' by others perhaps prevailed during the initial scramble for online share - the implication is that online publishing is entering a more mature phase.

James Murdoch, News Corp's Head of Europe and Asia, recently took a bullish line: 'We invest quite a lot in our journalism and we are proud of it. We think we should charge a fair price for it.' Similarly, the FT is confident that the strength of its writing and reporting puts it in a different league to most free content, and a spokesperson explained today's decision accordingly: 'We do not intend to compete on volume, rather the quality of our registered and subscriber readership.'

Web site: www.ft.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.