It was announced today that Media24’s financial weeklies, Finance Week and Finansies & Tegniek, will be consolidated under one brand from September 28. The new brand, Finweek, will be published in both English and Afrikaans and will be merged with online financial portal Finance24, which will be rebranded Fin24.co.za.
The strategy will see the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) providing one combined figure for the English and Afrikaans editions. ‘We don’t know if we’ll get the full July to December 2005 figures, because we’re rebranding in the middle of the semester,” says publisher Tim Spira. ‘The reason we’re rebranding in September is that we will get [figures for] the last quarter of the year.
‘We’re hoping for over 30,000, but there’s clearly an element of risk involved. The risk is that people might not recognise the new brand as being a continuation. If that does happen, we’re hoping it will be corrected quickly.”
On the latest ABC figures, covering the period January to June 2005, combined figures would place the Media24 titles at 29,995 net sales, more than 4,000 sales ahead of arch rival Financial Mail. The BDFM title has been leading the business magazine sector for a number of years, and this latest challenge to its dominance follows the announcement of a month ago that independent publisher Branko Brkic would be launching a new title into the space in October. ‘There’s a very good reason I’m after 25,000,” Brkic told eMedia at the time, referring to his circulation target on Maverick, ‘because the FM [Financial Mail] is on that.”
Although the figures on Financial Mail have shown no marked improvement since the appointment of Barney Mthombothi as editor in January, BDFM insiders have informed eMedia that a significant increase is expected on the second semester results.
The rebranding of Media24’s financial media assets is part of a broader strategy to follow global trends in the sector. Spira acknowledges that the internet is a more suitable vehicle than print with certain types of financial content, such as daily market indicators, and says ‘it is important for us not to limit ourselves to a single medium.”
Within the next few months, says Spira, ‘there will be a dedicated financial data channel under our brand on DStv.” He also says that the group is looking closely at providing a radio service, and that a defined strategy for delivery of mobile content will be finalised shortly.
The overall strategy will be backed up by an extended marketing budget. ‘It will be the most significant spend we’ve seen for the last few years,” says Spira.
On the offer to advertisers, with Finance24 currently attracting 150,000 unique users per month, Spira maintains that the new incorporated brands will deliver enhanced value. ‘A lot of our advertisers will automatically qualify for online exposure. We will be putting together packages which should be more attractive in terms of cost-per-thousand.”
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