Business Day launches BDlive

Newsrooms around the world are finding new ways of presenting and distributing their content as readers' consumption habits change. Following the example of newspapers such as the Financial Times‚ Business Day's sister newspaper in the UK‚ BDlive will aim to keep its readers informed no matter where or how they consume the news.

Peter Bruce‚ editor of both BDlive and Business Day newspaper‚ said the digital product suite would deliver news‚ analysis and opinion of a calibre unrivalled in the country. "We are going to use our reporting and editing power at Business Day to create the country's premier live business website and associated applications on the iPhone and iPad‚" he said.

In-depth news

The website will offer in-depth local and international news‚ especially relating to the South African and the global economy‚ business‚ companies and markets‚ alongside insightful opinion and analysis‚ a new personal finance section‚ expanded African news coverage and a range of columnists. Also available will be sport reports‚ book reviews‚ travel and food writing‚ and arts and entertainment articles and reviews.

The site‚ which comes with a sleek new design‚ will also offer multimedia such as video‚ podcasts‚ audio recordings and interactive graphics‚ and BD Alpha‚ a new‚ online-only section where top analysts and captains of industry will dissect the issues of the day.

Among other innovations on BDlive will be what is designed to be an easily accessible user console that will display personalised news headlines and article clippings‚ and allow users to compile a markets watchlist.

Benefits for advertisers

Bronwen Auret‚ general manager of BDFM Digital‚ said BDlive would also benefit advertisers by offering better website analytics and more advertising opportunities optimised to ensure the highest possible return on investment. These opportunities will include new ad placements‚ ad sizes and better audience segmentation.

Although the BDlive website will be free to read at first‚ readers' access will from later this year be controlled via a freemium subscription model‚ similar to that implemented by the Financial Times‚ but Bruce said this was unlikely to affect most casual visitors who would still have unimpeded access to the home page‚ all section pages and up to 15 articles within a 30-day period.

BDFM MD Mzi Malunga said of the new unit: "BDFM has the highest concentration of business content on the African continent‚ and we want to build on that‚ create an unmatched digital offering and be the best among the emerging markets. And everyone is‚ of course‚ eyeing the emerging markets."

In something of a first‚ Business Day now also provides a real-time newswire service‚ which supplies the news content for I-Net Bridge.