FT creates new metric to measure print and online audiences

The Financial Times has devised a new metric for measuring traffic to its website, to better reflect the title’s international and multimedia audience.

Print circulation and web traffic figures for UK national newspapers are traditionally audited separately, but are reported alongside each other in a monthly multi-platform report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, though this does not currently include the Financial Times. The move by the FT comes in response to growing criticism for the separate reporting of print and online statistics.

The Average Daily Global Audience (ADGA) measure, which is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), will record the number of people globally who read the FT in print or online, a release from the title says. The new metric combines data from readership surveys, Audit Bureau of Circulations reports and unique user and browser figures, but will not count "duplicates" - someone who reads the FT online and in print will only be counted once.

"The new measure responds to the demands of media partners seeking more comprehensive and relevant audience analysis across the industry. The rapid expansion of digital channels has meant that traditional, single-channel audience measures have failed to keep pace with the reality of readership pattern," says the release.

The AGDA will be reported on a six-monthly basis and will be developed to include future channels through which readers access the FT, such as iPads and mobile.

According to the new metric for May to November 2009, the FT increased its number of readers from 1,833,466 to 1,905,636. ABC figures for October 2009 to March 2010 suggest an average daily print circulation of 401,286. The FT says it has more than 2 million registered users and 126,281 digital subscribers to its website.

"We believe this audited data will increase transparency in the media industry. More importantly for the FT, it provides additional evidence that our daily audience, which includes the world’s most powerful decision-makers, is growing strongly and has now reached 1.9 million," adds Ben Hughes, global commercial director and deputy CEO at the FT.

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