The Filipino Times (TFT), the biggest Filipino newspaper in the UAE, and the largest digital platform for Filipinos in the Middle East, reported on April 23rd that it has garnered an unprecedented spike in readership and engagement across all its platforms for the past six weeks.
The latest figures of TFT reflect a hundred per cent increase in its website’s page views since March 1, with 4.5 million monthly page views recorded as compared to its average of 2.2 million in the past months. The high increase in website traffic reflects how TFT cemented its hold in the community as the go-to website for news and information.
The Filipino Times’s direct search has skyrocketed by a staggering 300 percent—reflecting how the newspaper has successfully converted print readers into online readers. Moreover, it has seen an 80 per cent increase in organic search, or traffic that comes from other websites or search engines. This shows that a significant number of users choose TFT over other sites on search engines’ results page.
The website traffic generated from the mobile usage for TFT has also increased by 80 per cent. The spike in percentage suggests that readers not only head to The Filipino Times for relevant content, but also share the stories on their own social media accounts like Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, and Twitter.
New data released by TFT also mirrored an increase in its social media reach (80 per cent) and engagement (25 per cent). It has also shown a 300 per cent increase in its video reach—with tens of thousands of netizens tuning in to the brand’s TFT Newsbreak and TFT Lifestyle TV segments daily and weekly, respectively, for relevant news and feature stories.
The rise in traffic and social media engagement is driven by breaking news and scoops of The Filipino Times surrounding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Some of the stories that have generated the highest traffic include the up-to-date COVID-19 numbers around the world, the new regulations by nations to prevent the disease, and news that specifically impact the lives of Overseas Filipinos such as Philippine government assistance to OFWs.
“The Filipinos are considered one of the most connected people in the world, actively engaging in the digital scene to get up-to-date information not just about the Philippines, but also about the world. During this COVID-19 pandemic, their keenness to be in the know has become more visible now more than ever, as they continue to not only consume, but also demand very timely and accurate news—especially those of major relevance to them,” said Vince Ang, the General Manager of The Filipino Times.
Ang also noted that amongst their highest viewed stories involve those that show the successful efforts of the UAE government to contain the disease—lauding the country’s leadership for providing hope and implementing pro-active measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
“During the past weeks, stories about the government’s extensive measures as well as the growing number of recoveries have gained the most traction on our website. These stories have been well-received by netizens, with many lauding the leaders and commenting how they trust the country during the pandemic,” he said.
The new figures of TFT’s digital platforms have also been augmented by the introduction of its new sources of traffic—messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram. TFT has recently started providing the digital version of its newspaper straight to Telegram and WhatsApp, allowing more readers to access content in just a tap.
Aside from that, Ang also noted that TFT has amassed more subscribers for its Newsletter—which is distributed via e-mail—as it is now released twice a day.
“The increased release of our TFT Newsletter has allowed readers to get more updated with the latest news about COVID-19. They can also now subscribe to current events via our Telegram, as well as our newspaper’s online version through WhatsApp,” Ang said.
“We have always been true to our mission to deliver up-to-date news for Filipinos, and in our commitment to keep that goal, we have decided to expand our reach to provide them more chances to access the latest content in within the tip of their fingers,” he added.
