SPH websites fly to the rescue

• SPH websites breaking new records
• Page views & unique visitors up in March
• ST.com numbers double following relaunch

Singapore - While Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) newspapers and magazines may be struggling for revenue in the current climate, its online properties are charging ahead with a number of websites breaking new records in March for both page views and unique visitors.

SPH released figures in January which revealed the revenue for the newspaper and magazine arm had dropped significantly from last year - particularly in print adverting sales - while earlier this month the weaker advertising market also saw the media giant introduce wage cuts for 75% of its workforce.

However, the latest numbers from Nielsen's Site Census confirm that SPH's internet strategy of investing in and occupying new-media spaces appears to be on the right track.

"The growth figures speak volumes about the resonance that our websites have with the online community," Felix Soh, digital media editor, said.

ST.com, which was relaunched last August with a free breaking news section, has been attracting new readers. Month-on-month ST.com's page views grew by 24.4% while unique visitors jumped up by 48%. On average, readers are spending 20% more time on ST.com.

ST.com's Editor Joanne Lee said the numbers have more than doubled since the August relaunch, as the website strives to address the specific concerns of its readers.

AsiaOne, SPH's news portal that aggregates the entire suite of the company's websites, saw a 20% rise in page views and 13.5% climb in unique visitors. Stomp, a citizen journalism website which features issues and videos generated by readers also recorded an 11% rise in both page views and unique visitors.