The Straits Times (ST) has retained its top spot as Singapore's newspaper of the year in an annual survey conducted by Marketing magazine, a monthly publication on advertising and marketing in Asia.

The magazine conducted an online survey of more than 900 professionals in various marketing services on their preferred media platforms for reaching out to consumers. They included chief executive officers, managing directors and general managers from various local and international banks as well as marketing agencies.

The newspaper held on to its No. 1 spot ahead of The Business Times, which also finished second on last year's list.

In this month's issue, Marketing said 2015 was a "year of transformation" for ST, citing the paper's redesign across its print and digital platforms.

"It stepped up the production of engaging videos, infographics, microsites and live blogs, to name a few," said the magazine, adding that there was a greater focus on the customer experience for readers and advertisers across ST's various platforms.

It also praised ST's audience-engagement efforts, such as askST, which allows readers to tap the wealth of knowledge of the newspaper's correspondents, and events such as the recent Singapore Coffee Festival.

Singapore Press Holdings, which publishes ST, had eight of its newspapers make the top 10 in the survey. Lianhe Zaobao was No. 4, The New Paper No. 5, My Paper No. 7, Lianhe Wanbao No. 8, Berita Harian No. 9 and Shin Min Daily News No. 10.

Business weekly The Edge was ranked sixth in the survey, while Mediacorp's Today came in third.

Editor-in-chief of SPH English/ Malay/Tamil Media and Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez said: "Advertisers are very savvy and go where the audience is. Which is why at ST, we are always very focused on striving to serve our readers well to keep them with us.

"When people in the trade recognise us as being tops, it is a reflection of their awareness of what readers think. So we are heartened to retain this top spot."

Zhaki Abdullah