The Financial Times
By Charlotte Clarke
· Aims to be the best business organisation of its kind in the world
· Its goal is to become essential reading (in print and online) to business leaders.
· It is a global business organisation, with half of its sales outside the UK.
· It was founded in 1888 by James Sheridan and his brother; it competed for many years with four other finance-oriented papers, finally in 1945 absorbing the last of them.
· Known as one of England's best papers, it specializes in reporting international business and financial news while maintaining an independent editorial outlook.
· It is a morning daily newspaper published in the Borough of Southwark, London
· Its primary rival is New York City-based The Wall Street Journal.
· The FT is the only paper in the UK providing full daily reports on the London Stock Exchange and world markets.
· The Financial Times reports business and features share and financial product listings.
· About 110 of its 475 journalists are outside the UK.
· The FT comes in two sections; the first section covers national and international news, the second company and markets news.
· 20% more executives than last year think it is "the most important business read"
· Despite the biggest downturn in recent history, the combined print and online audience has grown by 8% in the past year
· The FT is still the best-read publication, a position it has held since 1978.
· In the recent EMS Winter 2009 survey the Financial Times emerged as the title with the highest coverage of international print media reaching 3,135,000 readers/users (FT.com is also the number one international print website, reaching 2,815,000, users).
· FT.com has also won the Best Mobile Site award at The Association of Online Publishers Awards
· During the 1980s it supported Margaret Thatcher. However, it has aligned itself with Labour in recent years, and has been very supportive of Gordon Brown.
· FT editorials tend to be pro-European Union.
· Noam Chomsky said it is "the only paper that tells the truth", however some disagree.
The Lex Column
· The Lex column is a daily feature found on the back page of the financial times.
· It is unknown how the column got its name.
· It covers company activity, takeovers, earning statements, corporate deals, company and development around the world.
· The FT calls Lex its agenda-setting column.
· The column first appeared on Monday, October 1 1945.
· Lex is Worldwide, including coverage and writers from Asia, the USA and Europe.
· The Lex team consists of journalists based all over the world (6 in London, 4 in New York, 1 in Tokyo and 1 in Hong Kong).
· The estimated readership of the Lex column is 1.3m and research shows that almost two-thirds of FT readers read Lex every day.
Financial Times Weekend
· The Financial Times weekend consists of financial news and lifestyle features.
· It focuses on mixing business with leisure in a sophisticated way.
· Its columns consist cover the subjects of art, gardening, food and hotel/ travel industries.
· The Financial Times Weekend includes the supplement ‘FT magazine’, which covers world events, the arts and politics.
· The Financial Times Weekend also publish ‘How to Spend It’ magazine, which is a produced monthly. It includes articles on yachts, mansions, apartments, designs, haute couture, automobiles and fashion.
The Financial Times target audience
The Financial Times Target audience would fall under the A/B category.
Audience Information
53% have senior roles in their organisation (Owner / Proprietor, Executive / Director or Senior Manager)
30% have personal investments worth over £1m
49% run a self-managed superannuation fund
60% have purchased an online subscription
73% are likely to purchase professional services in the next 12 months
55% are likely to fly internationally in the next 12 months
30% are likely to fly business or first class when flying internationally
72% of FT readers do not work in financial services
The financial times perceive their audience in a amusing and stereotypical way; showing how the paper isn’t always so serious.
Advertisement
One main reason companies choose to advertise in the financial times is because of the size of the paper. Readers spend more time looking at the page, meaning more exposure of the advert.
The financial times also appeal to advertisers by having an audience target scheme, where the company can easily target a certain audience online with ROS (run of site) and section targeting.
The paper advertises many companies in different divisions. Common adverts seen in the paper include upper-class airline tickets, new software updates/specific IT Programs, and watch adverts.
Current Employees
Lionel Barber (Editor)
Lucy Kellaway (Management Columnist)
Jo Johnson (Head of Lex)
Tim Harford (Dear Economist)
Gideon Rachman (Chief International Affairs Columnist)
Martin Wolf (Chief Economics Commentator)
Jurek Martin (Columnist and former Washington Bureau Chief)
1888: Leopold Graham
1889: Douglas MacRae
1890: William Ramage Lawson
1892: Sydney Murray
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© Charlotte Aimee Clarke 2010