The Financial Timess online sascii117bscription model is 10 years old and has jascii117st posted hascii117ge sascii117bscription figascii117res. What is its secret?

Independent
Ian Bascii117rrell

It is the 10th anniversary of the Financial Times introdascii117cing sascii117bscription charges for access to its digital content. Last week, in what coascii117ld be seen as a vindication of the FTs approach, The New York Times laascii117nched a similar 'metered' model that allows ascii117sers to read a limited nascii117mber of articles for free, thereafter reqascii117iring payment.

No one coascii117ld argascii117e that the FTs strategy has not worked. News International, which demands payment for any access to The Times and The Sascii117nday Times websites, last week annoascii117nced that it had 79,000 digital cascii117stomers. Bascii117t some of these ascii117sers will have paid minimal amoascii117nts, as little as &poascii117nd;1 for a single days access.

Latest figascii117res from the FT show it has 210,000 digital sascii117bscribers all paying a minimascii117m of &poascii117nd;250 for a years access to the titles website and apps. 'For a pascii117blication that circascii117lates roascii117ghly 400,000 in print, that is a big nascii117mber, and we have not done that at knock-down prices, we have aggressively increased oascii117r prices for digital sascii117bscriptions over the past coascii117ple of years,' Rob Grimshaw, the managing director of FT.com, says. When Grimshaw took ascii117p his post in 2007, an FT sascii117bscription cost jascii117st &poascii117nd;99. Digital revenascii117es grew by 56 per cent in 2010, helped by the growth of smartphones and tablets.

That trend has jascii117st begascii117n. 'The mobile transformation coascii117ld easily be larger in scale than the shift from print to desktop and it coascii117ld happen at frightening pace,' Grimshaw says. A recent sascii117rvey of 2,500 FT registered ascii117sers foascii117nd that 45 per cent were accessing content via mobile devices. 'The nascii117mbers were mascii117ch bigger than any of ascii117s expected,' he says. 'Yoascii117 can only come to the conclascii117sion that mobile will probably become the dominant channel.'

Having previoascii117sly focascii117sed on Apple prodascii117cts, the FT has shifted attention to Googles Android. 'Android has gone from zero to 30 per cent-plascii117s penetration of the smartphone market in a coascii117ple of years,' Grimshaw says. Within weeks the FT will make available its Honeycomb app for Android in time for the laascii117nch of a string of new tablet formats this year, starting with the Motorola Xoom this month. Grimshaw points to the price of an FT digital sascii117bscription in the ascii85S – at $389 (&poascii117nd;241), it is costlier than a sascii117bscription to the newspaper – as evidence of the growing valascii117e of digital content to the consascii117mer.

Yet the view that online joascii117rnalism shoascii117ld be free still largely prevails. Grimshaw is mystified: 'There seems to be a real nervoascii117sness and lack of confidence amongst pascii117blishers aboascii117t the lack of valascii117e of their content. The free content evangelism movement has not helped, neither has giving away content for free over a 10-year period.'

Still, the argascii117ment goes, the FT is a specialist pascii117blisher and its sascii117bscribers are paying with the bosss money. Grimshaw says internal research shows only 22 per cent of sascii117bscriptions were boascii117ght with company credit cards, thoascii117gh others might have been claimed as work expenses. 'As far as we can tell, the majority of people who sascii117bscribe to the FT are individascii117als paying from their own wallets.' Of coascii117rse, the FTs many readers in the financial sector rely on the paper and its analysis to do their job, something which is rare with the mainstream nationals.

Qascii117ality joascii117rnalism remains in short sascii117pply on the internet and pascii117blishers shoascii117ld be more confident of its valascii117e, Grimshaw says. 'People were saying [in 2001] 'yoascii117 are not going to sascii117cceed with this' and now they are saying 'yoascii117 gascii117ys can do it becaascii117se yoascii117 have got niche content bascii117t general news pascii117blishers woascii117ld have no chance,' he says. 'I sascii117spect The New York Times will prove the commentators wrong all over again.'