Fairfax will tomorrow roll out an iPad app for the Australian Financial Review giving existing subscribers free access, with launch sponsors including Commonwealth Bank and Virgin Australia.
Content from the weekday and weekend editions of the AFR, its inserted magazines including Boss and the AFR Magazine, and the paper's weekly sections will be offered, as well as live updates such as market data and breaking news.
The app has been lauded by management as the next step in the AFR's 'revitalisation', begun in December with cutting the price of the masthead's online paywall by 40%, a move that has seen subscriber numbers almost double, according to Fairfax.
Sponsors of the app, which was developed in-house at Fairfax, include Commonwealth Bank, Virgin Australia, Land Rover, Vacheron-Constantin and Cisco.
AFR editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury has coordinated the AFR's overhaul in partnership with Financial Review Group chief executive Brett Clegg.
Clegg stated the app would deliver “extra value” for AFR subscribers, in print, online and via the app.
"The new AFR app is great,” said Clegg. “I think people will be thrilled with what is by all standards a world-class app for the iPad. Given the interest in it, we know there is significant pent-up demand for a ‘lean-back experience’ with our content, and customers have been asking every day when our app will be released.
“The last few months have seen new energy and verve emerge at the Financial Review [and] we are feeling momentum building with our readers and commercial clients, and our online subscribers have doubled since December to now total close to 17,000. We are seeing significantly more engagement with the Financial Review across all platforms - print, online and mobile."
Of the launch, Stutchbury said: “The combination of our authoritative 24-hour coverage of business, finance and investment news with live ASX data will see the [AFR] app provide subscribers with an integrated offering that has no parallel in Australia.”
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