Timely pieces
Surfing over lunch time brought me to a couple of interesting stories:
We’ve touched on creating a global presence but today’s Guardian story about WSJ expanding around the world puts some things into perspective for us as we have talked about some of these very issues already.
I’ve got to note a couple of things.
“To get people to pay for it you really have to be offering something that gives someone an edge,” [Alan Flitcroft, UK head of media at Ernst & Young] says. “Either it gives you an edge because you are getting it sooner than the rest of the world, or it has such a level of research or sensitivity that it gives you something you can’t get from surfing the web generally.”
We certainly don’t fit into the first category that Alan mentions above but I’d like to think we do the second point well.
And then this quote about China:
WSJ.com launched a Chinese language site in 2002 that now has more than 273,000 registered users and clocks up almost 3 million page views a month.
The numbers are probably right - I’m pretty sure, though, that it’s losing money. Maybe my colleagues in China might care to comment. FT.com’s Chinese language web site is also in the red.
Can’t help but dreaming that had this article been written six months later there would be mention of The Economist Group’s efforts.
The other question which has been nagging us is whether we should do something within the confines of The Economist Group or should we do something completely different. Maybe it’s not too late to get into the stem cell market.
March 9th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
My friend Xuyu commented from China:
I disagree that WSJ Chinese is losing money although the numbers are
basically right because the Chinese site is run with considerably low
cost by a very small team of 5 people. Of the 5, three editorial guys
also work for Dow Jones Chinese Newswire, which probably makes a small
profit. The key point for WSJC is growth. They are tied with themselves.
A news site can hardly attract enough registers or advisers if it only
updates about 10 stories on daily basis. It is very hard for WSJC to add
more stories because many of its online stories are also included in DJ
Chinese Newswires that sells to subscribers. Too much free content on
WSJC will kill DJ Chinese Newswires for sure, that is why it hasn’t
grown much over the past 4 years. Of course, they can add more stories
translated from the English online edition. That will surely make them
lose money.
FT Chinese is in red with no doubt because it has to maintain a team of
more than 30 people, while advertising revenue at this stage and
foreseeable future can hardly turn them in black, because the ads rate
is not high enough. You can’t raise the rate till advertisers are
convinced that the exclusive content and it audience is worth the
premium. Will that happen? I doubt it, given that price wars are really
foul in China.