New FT metric shows half a million paying users daily

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At the beginning of July an average of 563,026 people worldwide were paying for Financial Times content each day, according to a new metric launched by the title.

The new Print and Digital Paid-for Circulation measure will give the publisher more detailed information of who is paying for its journalism on a daily basis. The metric will calculate the total number of people who pay for Financial Times news and content each day, including both purchasers of its print edition and subscribers to its website.

The FT will release data using the metric quarterly and will publish the figures in addition to print circulation and web traffic data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The first result of 563,026 is a daily average of paying readings taken from figures for 31 May to 4 July. Paid subscriptions to FT content via e-reading devices are also included.

"Traditional single-channel audience measures only tell part of the story of the FT brand's health in today’s media landscape. Our readers are increasingly platform neutral - consuming FT content in print, online and on-the-go throughout the day - and our approach to measurement should reflect these new patterns and platforms," says John Ridding, CEO of the Financial Times, in a release. In May, the title launched another readership measure, the Average Daily Global Audience (ADGA) , which measures the number of people who "see" FT content, as opposed to just those who pay for it. The ADGA metric, which is reported bi-anually, 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.

According to the ADGA measure, from May to November 2009 the FT increased its number of readers from 1,833,466 to 1,905,636. ABC figures released in June 2010 suggest an average daily print circulation of 391,865.

The FT's website has increased its registered users and digital subscribers since May, according to the last statement from the company: the site has more than 2.6 million registered users (up by approximately 600,000); and 149,047 digital subscribers (a rise of 22,766).