WSJ launches Southeast Asia portal online

Complementing the journal's coverage of the Asia region, the new portal — which launched on 15 September — features breaking news, reporting and analysis of the economies in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Besides daily news and analysis from the wide editorial network of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, it also has online-only interviews, video reports and interactive features.

The editorial team in the Southeast Asia region will also be expanded to support the required growth in coverage and content.

Media players say the portal is a welcome addition to the journal's Asia-based offerings.

Vic Sithasanan, chief executive officer at FutureLab Asia, said the localised portal is targeted at middle and senior managers,  and it is proving highly-relevant to the Southeast Asia market.

“It is quite interesting. Brands targetting corporate owners could do very well here, especially for the IT and finance industries that are targeting corporate decision makers,” he told Campaign in a phone interview.

Dinesh Sandhu, business development director, Southeast Asia at Media Contacts, said the new portal has the ability to "drill down" into the region and the countries within it, from a consumer insight perspective.

"Currently, all the research that they provide is very Asia-Pacific centric. Some clients don't consider titles like the Asian Wall Street Journal, despite the obviously affluent audience, because of the inability to micro-target by country or a smaller sub region that is Southeast Asia. Hopefully, this will change," he told Campaign.

He added that content should change to reflect the country highlights in the Southeast Asia sub region, as opposed to the current view that Singapore and Hong Kong are a barometer for Asia as a whole.  The portal should aim to have be more luxury-related content, given that more luxury advertisers will be interested to advertise as ads can be geo-targeted, Sandhu said.

Almar Latour, editor in chief, Asia at The Wall Street Journal, noted that the Southeast Asia section marks the continued expansion of The Wall Street Journal in Asia and furthers its mission to be the premier source of news and analysis in this "dynamic, fast-changing" region

“The Southeast Asia section is our latest effort to localise and digitise content in Asia, following the launch of our Hong Kong section online in 2010, and the continued success of our local Journal websites in China, Japan and India,” he said.

Among the highlights of the new portal are Southeast Asia Real Time, Scene Asia and Southeast Asia Power List.

Facebook and Twitter accounts have also been activated to feature coverage from the new online section.

“The new online section will enable us to capture incremental growth in online circulation and advertising from individuals and organizations concentrating on this dynamic region," said Christine Brendle, publisher of The Wall Street Journal Asia and managing director of Dow Jones & Company in Asia.

“We have already received strong interest from advertisers and are pleased to provide them this unique, unparalleled platform to reach the Southeast Asia region's most sophisticated and influential readers.”