Conflicts and comebacks: What 2024 had in store for FT readers

The non-stop news agenda meant there was a lot to keep on top of, but at FT Professional we looked to ensure that subscribers were able to stay informed without feeling overloaded, and ultimately take decisive action prompted by timely FT commentary.

In this post we take a look back through the editorial and new product highlights from a year defined by conflict, as well as one very consequential comeback.

The US election brought record numbers of readers to ft.com in search of balanced perspectives on a presidential race that had many twists and concluded with Donald Trump's historic comeback. The FT’s visual storytelling team once again excelled and brought subscribers the Election Game, which enabled players to compete with one another in their own bid for the White House.

The popular polls tracker followed all the possible paths to victory, and the US Election Countdown newsletter (renamed White House Watch following the election) provided on-the-ground analysis from the campaign trail. Readers were even able to stay informed when on the road. New compatibility with Apple CarPlay meant FT app users could listen to the most popular stories in their region while driving their car.

In the UK, the election in July was followed in October by the first Labour budget in 14 years. In addition to sharp, compelling analysis, the innovative Budget Game gave subscribers the opportunity to step into the Chancellor’s shoes and create their own fiscal plan.

While we all wondered what the budget would mean for us, Claer Barrett’s new newsletter series ‘Sort Your Financial Life Out’ inspired subscribers to get more confident with their personal finances and was awarded Best Newsletter of the Year.

With the new government’s emphasis on the search for growth, we launched ‘The State of Britain’, a new premium newsletter written by the public policy editor Peter Foster that delves into the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU and policy solutions to the country’s stagnant productivity levels.

The rapidly evolving conflict in the Middle East and the continuation of the devastating war in Ukraine were stories that our editorial team followed thoughtfully, and aimed to bring unique perspectives on.

Subscribers kept an eye on the fallout from the death of Alexei Navalny with great interest, and an FT Weekend Magazine story on Russia’s poisoning operation and his widow’s vow to carry on his struggle against Putin was read widely, particularly by women.

The possibility of a war between the US and China over Taiwan also remains a complex and evolving issue. While both sides are taking steps to avoid direct conflict, a striking visual piece outlined the possible military scenarios that could decide the outcome.

India’s emerging influence as a global player, as well as the FT’s growing Indian audience, were the primary drivers behind the launch of ‘India Business Briefing’, a twice-weekly newsletter authored by Veena Venugopal on the stories that really matter in Indian business and policy.

Elsewhere in Asia, the FT opened a new bureau in Jakarta, Indonesia, and appointed A. Anantha Lakshmi as Jakarta correspondent. Indonesia is the world’s third largest democracy and its politics, business and commodities sector matter to the FT’s global audience.

The FT also added to its San Francisco bureau with a number of new appointments to bring even greater depth to our coverage of technology companies, venture capital and the intersection of money and technology.

Big tech and AI was the biggest global business story of the year and the team covering Silicon Valley delivered a slew of scoops on everything from Nvidia’s record revenue growth to OpenAI’s for-profit plans.

It wasn’t just on the US West Coast where AI investment surged. At FT Professional, we developed our own AI feature called Ask FT, which answers questions by searching the entire ft.com archive and producing short summaries.

Those using the FT for work are often time-poor, but need the right information at the right time to make decisions. Ask FT provides an efficient way of finding the answers subscribers are looking for, as well as the source articles for those then wanting to dig a little deeper.

A select group of Professional subscribers have been helping us test Ask FT and we’re aiming to roll out access to all organisations with a Professional subscription in 2025.

While the FT’s journalists brought subscribers the news that mattered in 2024, our focus in FT Professional was all about helping to make our journalism more useful and actionable.

We rolled out a number of new tools exclusively for FT Professional subscribers to help aid research and collaboration.

1. Organise and share key points from articles using highlighting
   New sharing and categorisation functions in the highlighting tool help to draw colleagues’ or clients’ attention to key stats or snippets of FT articles.
2. Connect news with market moves using the in-article widget
   The markets data widget surfaces relevant price information about businesses mentioned within the article, giving subscribers another layer of context to the article they’re reading.

Expect to see more new exclusive tools and features in 2025 as we go further in tailoring the FT Professional experience for those using FT journalism in a work or learning environment.

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