Times sports pull-out to be axed in relaunch
As part of a relaunch on February 11, The Times is dropping its standalone sports section after less than a year.
The consolidation will see a new broadsheet section, containing sport and business coverage, while the main broadsheet section will be dedicated purely to news.
Editor Peter Stothard says the changes are in response to readers’ comments, and that overall pagination will increase.
Stothard says both sports and business coverage will be increased. The middle of the second section will be The Register, which will contain obituaries, the court page and a readers’ debate. The paper will retain its T2 tabloid section, which covers arts, health, law, radio and TV.
The launch will be backed by a TV and radio advertising campaign – devised by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R – with the catchline “The Times gives you more of what’s important”.
A press buyer says the revamp frees attractive advertising sites and gives The Times a greater flexibility to increase its pagination.
The Financial Times is launching a weekly tabloid supplement, FT fund management, on Monday.
The supplement will be promoted with a print campaign, through Delaney Lund Knox Warren, running in The Sunday Telegraph and investment trade titles. It will be supported by direct mail activity by Draft Worldwide, targeting 80,000 individuals involved in the fund industry.
