FT changes weekends to compete with Sundays

LONDON - The Financial Times is relaunching FT Weekend Magazine as it looks to better compete against the Sunday papers.

The changes, orchestrated by FT Weekend editor Andy Davis, will feature a redesign of the main newspaper title, plus the relaunch of FT Weekend Magazine.

The revamp includes merging the main FT Weekend news section with Companies & Markets, a section that normally runs as a supplement to the main news­paper edition on weekdays.

Other changes include the refreshing of FT Weekend's House & Home and Money sections.
The FT Weekend Magazine, meanwhile, will move to a larger format, reducing the wordcounts of stories to make way for bigger images.

As part of the overhaul, the magazine's books section, the "Lunch with the FT" column and the TV sections will move into the Life & Arts section of the core FT Weekend newspaper.

FT Weekend has poached Merryn Somerset Webb from The Sunday Times to pen a column about personal finance, while Monocle editor Tyler Brûlé returns as a columnist.

Davis said there are no plans to raise the £2 cover price of the paper, adding that advertisers have reacted enthusiastically to the changes, which will be introduced this weekend (Saturday).

The changes at FT Weekend come as the FT's circulation continues to expand, according to the March ABCs, making it one of the few quality newspaper titles to post growth.

The FT, which was named Newspaper of the Year at the British Press Awards earlier this month, once again posted a month- on-month and year-on-year increase in sales.

Its circulation was up 1.47% to 454,937 copies in March, while its six-month average was up by 1.12% year on year to 448,540 copies.

The relaunch of FT Weekend is the latest in a series of product changes by owner Pearson.
Last month, the company announced plans to relaunch its FT Wealth supplement, which targets the top 1% of the world's wealthiest people, as a quality quarterly magazine.

MediaWeek
23rd April