Steve Pinches

Group Product Manager, Emerging Platforms

2001-6• Flat paywall: Some content

free, some premium. Didn’t work very well. Price of a sub ca $99

2007• revised the model to ‘metered

model’ where people can sample up to 30 articles /mo

2008/9• FT begins to learn to be a

retailer. Gradually ratchet the wall down to 8 a month

2010• Mobile powers up

subscriptions with launch of iPad.

2011• Global print circulation around

350,000. We will surpass this in digital subscriptions later this year

2012• Pushing the prices constantly

to $350+ using careful price testing. Almost charging the same online as we are in print

Transforming the business model

Shift in revenue base:• In 2012: majority of revenue from

content and events. Advertising below 50% of revenue.

• By 2014, advertising will drop to less than 40% of revenue. 35% of our revenue will be digital, with the seeds sown to achieving close to 50% digital revenues by 2014.

• Our target is 313,000 paid for digital subscribers by the end of 2012; this will exceed print circulation.

Current audience figures:

Average Daily Global Audience: 2.2m

Total paid-for circulation: 604,856

Digital subscribers: 285,475

Web app users: 2m

Revenue Split by Type : 2007 - 2014

62% 57%48% 46% 43%

36% 31%26%

20%22%

28%25%

24%25%

23%21%

4%5%

4%

5%5%

5%

23%28%

34%

7% 9% 9% 10% 11% 11% 12% 13%

4%

5%

7% 8% 10%15%

18%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Print Advertising Revenue Print Content Revenue Events Revenue

Online Content Revenue Online Advertising Revenue

Our mobile product strategy?

Quick access plus a pleasurable browse, especially at the weekend.

An experience which feels tailored, no matter how you access FT.com.

The pleasure of leisurely newspaper browsing combined with the immediacy and interactivity of a website.

Anonymous users can see homepage, all section

pages, video, markets data for free

Registered users read up to 8 articles free over 30 days

Subscribers get unlimited access

to articles

Our mobile business strategy

A unified business: one customer, one access

Front end

Adserver

Analytics

Personalisation layer

Content management

Login/subscription

Web app m.ft.com www.ft.com

2009-2010

• 1st proper, dynamic media iPad app

• Won Apple Design Award

• Huge contribution to overall FT.com subs and ad revenues

2011…web app

• Available from the browser just visit app.ft.com

• Read whole FT offline, updated throughout the day

• Automatic updates – you’re always on the latest version

2011/12…hybrid/web

2012…hybrid/web

Life outside iTunes

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FT Web-App Launch: Migration & Traffic Growth

HTML5

iOS

Launch June, 2011

Today:

- Over 2 million downloads

- iOS native no longer available

Weekend readers

17

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

20%

Proportion of platform consumption throughout the week

Desktop

Tablet

The mobile web is huge

(and around 9% of our traffic to www.ft.com comes from mobile too!)

2012…Acquire Assanka!

A few things we learnt along the way…

• Things that are difficult:– Storing large amounts of content offline in a browser, reliably– Testing web apps is very difficult indeed– The advertising ecosystem isn’t webapp ready. No clear ad sizes,

putting HTML5 ads into an HTML5 page causes formatting issues, no partners who do everything we need

– Payments not elegant– ‘Installation’/bookmarking of app not consistent between platforms – Managing screen sizes elegantly

In conclusion• Web apps aren’t necessarily easier to build, but they make future cross-

platform feature development easier. It’s no silver bullet though

Questions?