Blips aside, Cheng appears to be working wonders by focusing on three strands (or ‘prongs’ if you’re Jemima Kiss). These include new products, subscription models and internal production. It seems to be working – a 33 per cent rise in users from last year to 7.1 million uniques a month.
The nod to new products suggests that the FT.com – like the Telegraph and, more recently the Daily Mirror – could benefit from an internal web development team.
He also shrugs off any threat from Google and their strength in the new, more open marketplace. But I’ve always believed that specialist publishers, including the ‘niche’ business audiences of the FT and WSJ, were relatively safe from the advertising giant. More so than the Mirror or the Sun.
Impressive stuff nonetheless.
On behalf of the FT, I’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers this morning. Due to a fault at our third-party hosting provider (affecting multiple customers), FT.com was only intermittently available during a period of around 90 minutes. Service is now back to normal.
On behalf of the FT, Iād like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers this morning. Due to a fault at our third-party hosting provider (affecting multiple customers), FT.com was only intermittently available during a period of around 90 minutes. Service is now back to normal.
Thanks for the post Tom. It’s encouraging that the FT’s senior communications manager searches for FT namechecks on blogs.
Update: Ian Cheng left the FT to join Google a short while after this post. Draw your own conclusions… š
Did he complete the FT.com relaunch that was rumoured?