BT celebrates 45th anniversary with focus on digital audience

THE Business Times turns 45 today (Oct 1), and will be celebrating this significant anniversary by focusing on initiatives for its most important stakeholders – its audience.

Amid a rapidly changing digital landscape, BT has taken major steps to transform its offerings for its online users, with the view to enhance their experiences.

Here’s what BT users can expect in the month of October:

• A brand new website with a fresh new look, taking in suggestions from users to optimise the browsing experience, to be launched early next week.

• An official BT45 site, which is now live, detailing the publication’s history, testimonials from industry leaders, and BT’s new offerings.

• A new feature for subscribers to gift BT’s subscriber-only pieces – such as expert analyses and exclusives – to non-subscribers. Learn more about this feature here.

• A virtual, week-long open house from Oct 12, where paywalls on all pieces in BT will be lifted to allow all visitors to experience the publication’s award-winning financial journalism.

In addition, all existing subscribers will get a complimentary 6-month subscription to The Peak magazine to thank them for their loyal support. Forty-five BT subscribers will also stand a chance to win a pair of Apple AirPods Pro earphones, worth S$379. 

As part of the celebrations, new subscribers to BT during the month of October can also enjoy different special promotions and gifts.

Those who subscribe to the BT Personal Edition will receive S$45 worth of Lazada e-vouchers for a year’s subscription, and S$100 worth of such vouchers if they subscribe for two years.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

For those who prefer the BT News Tablet Edition, they will receive a free flip stand case with a wireless Bluetooth detachable keyboard (worth S$88) and a Samsung EVO Plus microSD Memory Card 128GB (worth S$29.90), if they subscribe for a 30-month contract. The case is compatible with the Samsung tablet which comes with this subscription package.

45 years of being a trusted partner

ON Oct 1, 1976, The Business Times (BT) was published for the first time as a standalone newspaper, with a dozen pages and an initial daily circulation of only 2,500 copies. 

Its aim? To bring to the business community the news it “wants and needs”, according to a note to readers published the same day. 

Forty-five years later, that mission has withstood the evolution of the media landscape and still guides Singapore’s most trusted financial news source. Now a cross-platform digital subscription offering, BT continues to put its readers first, even as the publication enters its next phase with SPH Media.

As he recounts the history of the publication, BT editor Wong Wei Kong recalls that BT was the first English-language news site to go online in Asia, in 1995. There were only 56,000 Internet users in Singapore then. Today, BT’s website sees over seven million pageviews a month.

“Over the past 45 years, BT has been the leading financial daily in Singapore, a trusted partner to our industry and business leaders,” he added.

Long-time reader Stefanie Yuen Thio, joint managing partner of TSMP Law Corp, said commentary in BT has become increasingly important.

“If you need to know what is going on with Singapore or the internal workings of the corporate world, The Business Times is a great place to start. It’s an easy read but it engages the mind,” she said.

Toby Koh, group managing director for Ademco Security, also highlighted BT’s focus on local businesses and called it “a great read”.

“The Business Times is the source. Where else can you get it in Singapore? It's a voice for local entrepreneurs. That's the best thing about BT.”

Others spoke about the publication’s ability to cut through the noise to get to the crux of the matter. Azure Capital CEO Terence Wong said BT was a “pro-reader” publication that has “a tradition of calling a spade a spade”. 

“Over the years, I have seen BT take on blue chips, small caps, errant small caps, government agencies and even industry watchdogs without fear or favour. It is always on the side of investors, and that is something I appreciate.”

Similarly, DHL Express Singapore managing director Christopher Ong said BT provides a unique Asian perspective in a “noisy media world”.

“I always turn to BT to get business intelligence or insights that will help me in my thinking as a business leader.”

Koh Ching Ching, OCBC Bank head of group brand and communications, praised the depth of the coverage due to BT’s experience and contacts.

“Their commentaries are insightful and they help shape conversations, and sometimes even nudge policy changes,” she said.

BT’s Mr Wong said that the publication will continue to be the “measured, but incisive business voice”. 

“This is what we stand for: Asking the whys and whats and what’s next of stories important to our readers, shaping the thinking behind major issues of the day, and doing this in a way that reflects our vantage point at the heart of a key hub in the Asian growth story,” he said. 

Mr Wong added that as an agile newsroom with a niche but dedicated audience, BT looks forward to the challenge of pushing further with its digital transformation. 

“We will continue to serve our audience and push ourselves to innovate as we strive to be the regional leader in financial news.”  

READ MORE: 

• New feature allows BT subscribers to 'gift' stories

• October subscribers get special offers for BT’s 45th birthday