BDFM digital hopes for reinvention

BDFM is a joint venture between Avusa Publishing and Pearson, the owner of the Financial Times and FT.com amongst others.

The tough economy and print media's declining share of the advertising pie have been forcing publishers to look at monetising every aspect of their business. Including online, of course.

Lifting its online game

With regards to this, BDFM recently appointed Bronwen Auret as GM: BDFM digital and tasked her with lifting its online game.

At the top of the list was a refresh of www.FM.co.za - the first since around 1995, according to Auret. The new look site, along with a new site for www.businessday.co.za and other BDFM brands, is a step in a new direction for the stable that also includes the digital properties of Summit TV, Big News and the Home Channel.

Auret says BDFM decided to take a closer look at its online properties when it recently emerged that FT.com has started generating more revenue from subscriptions than from ad revenue. She admits the group aims to put its content, especially on FM.co.za, behind a pay wall. Her timeline suggests this might well happen before the end of 2010.

At the moment she is building a reader profile for FM online by limiting access to more than 10 stories a month to registered readers. But first she has to grow the audience, and then she has to ensure the site delivers more contextually relevant content. Content will be expanded to make greater use of multi- and social media.

Worth paying for

In short, she wants to create a product worth paying for and this involves taking the 'print' newsroom with her on a digital journey. She is thus helping familiarise journalists with the various aspects of creating content for the digital environment and the use of real-time tools such as Twitter.

For FM.co.za, the site refresh focused on a cleaner look and feel and a more user-friendly interface. Ad placement positions have been optimised - the old site limited the use of advertising, which meant inventories were sold out up to two months in advance with no space for expansion. Economic indicators have been introduced, as well as some multimedia content. The site has around 43 000 monthly unique users and serves around 270 000 pages. Obviously, growth potential is significant from this relatively low base.

www.businessday.co.za received a refresh in May 2009, but a new site - that is more engaging and easier to use, makes greater use of multi- and social media, and allows for more reader interaction with the paper - is currently in development.

BusinessDay.co.za won't go behind a pay wall in the near future because of its breaking news element, says Auret, who believes breaking news online will remain free at least for the foreseeable future. The site has around 180 000 unique users and serves around 1 million pages views a month.

Failed to gain significant traction

The http://blogs.businessday.co.za blogging experiment will be revisited; it has failed to gain significant traction amongst readers, possibly because of infrequent updates by contributors who also work on the print publication.

E-editions, basically exact replicas of the print titles in digital format, are in the pipeline for both FM.co.za and BusinessDay.co.za but a technology issue has held back release, which was initially scheduled for January 2010.

Auret says the NetAssets brand (www.netassets.co.za) is not one the group will be investing in. It is currently a content aggregation and markets tool. As it falls away, the concept, though, will become noticeable on BusinessDay.co.za and FM.co.za

BigNews, a print monthly aimed at SMMEs, will see a new site launch fairly soon. It is currently in development at Cambrient. The site will aim to create a resource for SMMEs.

Auret believes it's time digital publishing grows up as print cannot afford to subsidise online any longer and websites now need to find ways to finance for itself. To survive, quality journalism requires investment from publishers and, with traditionally publishing models in decline, new models better emerge fast to pay those bills. If it doesn't, argues Auret, journalism will be severely compromised to everybody's detriment.

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