The Financial Times proves expensive journalism can work—sort of

Quality costs (and the FT isn't apologising)

Jon Slade, CEO of The Financial Times, Image © INMA

The Financial Times charges £600/year and thrives. Analysis of Jon Slade’s INMA webinar reveals why the model works—and why it won’t save most publishers

Jon Slade joined the Financial Times two decades ago without a grand plan. He was trying to work out how to make quality journalism pay. Twenty years later, the FT charges £600 a year for a premium subscription and has just blown past 3 million paying customers. On an INMA webinar, Slade—now Chief Executive—is answering questions from media executives in 37 countries, all asking the same thing: what’s the secret?

The answer, it turns out, is that there isn’t one—at least not one that travels well.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the FT operates in a different universe to most publishers. Its readers are fund managers, Chief Executives, and lawyers who need the paper to do their jobs. Many expense their subscriptions. The journalism helps them make money, or at least avoid losing it. Thi…