FT turns supplements into glossies

The Financial Times is ramping up its focus on supplements, beginning with the relaunch of tabloid insert FT Wealth as a glossy magazine.

The FT has also relaunched its arts supplement, Art of our Time, from a tabloid to a magazine. It was published on Monday (March 17) and was sponsored by Dubai International Financial Centre.

Dominic Good, FT advertising director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and global display, says it is in talks with potential sponsors to increase the frequency of the arts magazine to up to four this year. It was previously published once a year.

Meanwhile, FT Wealth, which was launched as a quarterly tabloid insert last year in FT editions across Europe and the UK, will become a glossy magazine from March 28. Its distribution will also be extended to Asia.

Good says: “We are working on the possibility of expanding it into the US. We have already doubled ad revenue in this first issue [compared to the tabloid version].”

The supplement will carry advertising from Breitling, Credit Suisse, Net Jets and Graff, while returning advertisers include Barclays Wealth and Societé Generale.

The FT will be increasing the frequency of its sports magazine from four in 2007, to six this year, while its Business and the Environment report, which has previously appeared in the newspaper, will also become a glossy magazine insert for the UK, Europe, Asia and US markets. It will be published three times this year.

Good says the idea behind converting its supplements into magazines is to increase their shelf life and attract more readers.