Financial Times debuts on the Internet

BYLN:

The Financial Times Group this week launched an electronic version of the daily newspaper on the Internet.

The 60-page site, complete with pink pages, is half editorial stories from the newspaper and half FT Group marketing information.

The editorial includes the daily lead stories from each section of the newspaper and its news summary column. A strong emphasis has been put on international stories to attract global users of the Net.

Stockmarket and trade indices from around the world will be updated on-line every half-hour. The previous six days’ editorial and market data will remain available on the site.

The FT’s sales team is in discussions with a number of advertisers about appearing on the site. The first ads are expected to appear within the next three months.

“The idea of the site is to introduce Internet users around the world to the FT’s international business content,” says FT special projects manager Josy Roberts. “It is something which we will be adding to and developing substantially over the next year as we see what demand there is for what sorts of information.”

The back half of the site is composed of marketing information about the FT Group’s electronic data, company reports, research and news wire services.

The FT can be reached on-line at http://www.ft.com

– The Electronic Telegraph, which has 85,000 registered users, will carry its first advertisement this week with the launch of a seven-week campaign for Barclaycall. The Barclaycall ad will comprise ten pages of information on the telephone banking service, with a printable coupon. The Electronic Telegraph can be reached at http://www.barclays.co.uk