The New York Times recently announced it would drop its share price pages to save money, resulting in an outcry from unhappy readers. A similar situation arose locally when the Financial Mail suggested it might drop its statistics pages. Readers were dead against it, and the move was canned.
Business Day editor Peter Bruce says The New York Times may save money by dropping these pages, but this will lose it readers. ”Any newspaper is read by constituencies of people – investors, sports fans or politics buffs – who take it for different reasons,” Bruce says. ”Ask any editor whether he or she would risk dropping their crossword, which only a fraction of their readership bothers to complete.”
The Daily Telegraph in London also contemplated dropping its stats pages a few years ago. But after extensive reader research, it quietly shelved the project. In continental Europe, where the business press is expanding, statistics are given far more space than in Anglo-Saxon countries.
”I know that the expansion of our pages might seem to run counter to current wisdom but I am convinced it is the right thing to do,” Bruce says. ”Some people have asked, for instance, why Business Day cannot do just as the Financial Times does in London, and run the barest minimum – yesterday’s close, the highs and lows and perhaps a ratio or two.
”But the FT has been losing circulation steadily in the UK and one of the reasons, I think, is that it no longer differentiates itself enough from its UK competitors. You can get the same share price information in the Telegraph or the Guardian that you can in the FT.
”So many people in a particular constituency, who might have bought the FT for its prices but also want sports in their newspaper, might reasonably ask themselves whether buying the FT is worth it and take the Telegraph instead. And they have.”
Bruce says until recently, there was little to differentiate Business Day‘s share price pages from those of other business or financial publications. ”We all carried the same basic information. So, if we on BD begin to write more, say, about non-listed companies or more about management and (proportionally) less about the financials we would run the risk of pushing readers away. Our new stats pages allow traditional investment readers to make a clear choice between us and the competition.
”They can have more or settle for less. The pages are now a major differentiator and the good thing is that we have had to create only one new editorial position on the newspaper to widen the gap.”
Group editor of Sake Beeld Charles Naudé says that Business Day seems to be swimming against the stream. ”Even in South Africa the move has been towards less market data, published in more compact form,” he says. ”The reason, I suppose, is that data has become increasingly more available online.
Also publishing data in print takes up a lot of editorial space, and it is difficult to get supporting advertisements, he adds.
”So I think publishing share price and other data online is probably inevitable. The only question is when a newspaper’s readers will be ready for the move by being both technically equipped and computer literate.”
The Independent’s group editor-in-chief, Peter Sullivan says at this stage the group has no intention of dropping any listings. ”We know our readership is not only diverse, but part of a growing and developing population, not all of whom have equal access to connectivity or the web,” he says.
”Our listings pages add immense value to our publications. They allow all readers to enjoy examining the prices and ratios and mutual funds in their own time, at their own speed, wherever they happen to be.”
However, Paul Stober, editor of Business Times, believes it is just a matter of time before his publication and others start phasing out stock listing pages as a result of the changing demographics of the country and the nature of the local financial services market.
”Those coming into the market today are young people who are being introduced to financial services and the stock market in an online environment. From their first involvement with the financial services industry they will check their investments and carry out transactions online. The financial services industry has been encouraging this trend because the technology is there and it reduces their operating costs.
Stober says the key is how to manage the change-over. ”Readers, especially long-standing ones, are not fond of change. Also, there is no doubt that a significant number do want the pages, if only out of habit. We don’t want to lose them. But, at some stage we will have to bite the bullet and run the risk of upsetting some.”
Alec Hogg, CEO of Moneyweb, says it came as a surprise to see Business Bay increase the space it devotes to commoditised information. ”It might have something to do with legislation which forces JSE listed companies, and we are the only country in the world still to do this, to advertise price sensitive information in newspapers,” he says. ”Or it could be that Business Day‘s research produced different results to ours. The community we serve cares little for commoditised data like day-old share prices. They prefer original, focused business content and are especially appreciative of information they cannot get anywhere else.”
That, in fact, is where Moneyweb has focused its attention, with its eight-page Moneyweb Business daily insert into The Citizen.
Will stock exchange prices pages survive in newspapers? For the moment and in internet-laggard South Africa, perhaps. But not indefinitely.
Hogg believes financial information is at its most valuable when it is freshest. Newspapers have changed little in the past 400 years. He sees it as mindless to expect them to dominate this sector when far more efficient delivery channels are becoming ubiquitous, especially among early adopters like the investment community. Today anyone wanting investment-related data gets it seamlessly and immediately through the internet and mobile devices like cellphones, palms and blackberries.
He gives, as an example, one of the fastest growing sections of Moneyweb.co.za – the Click A Company section, which provides detailed data on companies, including the current share price. ”Increasingly, people are realising they don’t have to wait for the morning paper to access information which is readily and cheaply available throughout the trading day,” Hogg adds. ”Arthur Sulzberger and his team at the New York Times appreciate this reality.”