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Financial Times Business is grouping its web sites, including

FTYourMoney and the imminent IFA site FTAdvisor.com, which will together

form an in-house ad network.

A 10-strong media sales team will sell across five separate sites,

including investors chronicle.co.uk and FTMarketWatch.com, to clients such

as Charles Schwab, Scottish Widows, E*Trade and Fleming Asset Management.

The other site involved is the IFA extranet eXweb.

Jane-Emma Peerless, group advertisement director at FT Business, said it

had rejected the idea of appointing a third-party ad network: ”We had to

be very careful. We did consider an outside network, but while networks

say they specialise, they are generalist. We have a greater expertise in

this market than they can offer.”

According to Peerless, the move was in response to clients’ wishes and in

anticipation of several new web site launches, including the IFA site and

the Investors Chronicle site.

Matt Wiseman, online ad manager, said: ”There are obvious synergies if

clients get involved in more than one site.”

Wiseman said that FT Business will still suggest advertising possibilities

for the FT.com site and cites a successful pitch made to Fleming Asset

Management: ”A proposal was put to it by Financial Times Business, which

suggested targeting private clients through FTYourMoney and the SME market

through FT.com. The result was an Å“80,000 spend across both web

sites.”

He added that the FT Business sites are also looking to offer syndicated

content and daily news in co-branded deals with third-party sites and

portals.