SINGAPORE - The Straits Times' website www.straitstimes.com took first place in the Local News and Current Affairs category of the recent Digital Media of the Year survey by trade magazine Marketing.

Overall, Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) and its wholly owned subsidiary SPH Magazines' websites topped advertisers and marketers' preferred choices for their digital media campaigns this year in the Local Business & Finance, Women, Motor Vehicles and Parenting categories. They were also the favourites in the Men and Luxury categories.

The survey involved 900 industry professionals, with advertisers from major banks, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, property and construction, IT and telecommunications firms, as well as travel and tourism companies, polled.

Almost 73 per cent of client-advertiser respondents were manager-level decision makers and above, with almost half from the most senior ranks.

SPH website AsiaOne was in third place in the Local News and Current Affairs category. Channel NewsAsia came in second.

For the second consecutive year, financial daily The Business Times' website topped the Local Business & Finance category.

In the Women's category, SPH Magazines' herworldPLUS and Cleo came in first and third respectively. ELLE took the second spot.

Young Parents topped the Parenting category, while Men's Health and The Peak came in second in the Men and Luxury categories respectively. August Man and Tatler Singapore topped both categories.

In the Motor Vehicles category, sgCarMart emerged first, while print magazine Torque's website by SPH Magazines was the runner-up.

Mr Julian Tan, executive vice-president of Digital Division, SPH, said: "Having many of our online properties ranked highly in their respective categories of the survey is a strong signal to us that we are well-regarded by decision-makers and industry professionals. This is proof that our media offerings have allowed advertisers and clients to achieve concrete and effective results. We are spurred on to continuously innovate and offer more fresh solutions to advertisers and clients."

Mr Loh Yew Seng, chief executive officer of SPH Magazines, said: "We are honoured to receive this vote of confidence from industry professionals and decision makers. This is a resounding affirmation of our abilities to reach consumers across multiple touch points on the strengths of our ubiquitous magazine brands. We will continue to work with our advertisers to develop robust, 360 marketing solutions and innovate on new channels to reach consumers any time, any where."

Survey ranking for SPH and SPH Magazines' websites:

Local News & Current Affairs: The Straits Times (#1); AsiaOne (#3)

Local Business & Finance: The Business Times (#1)

Women: herworldPLUS (#1); Cleo (#3)

Luxury: The Peak Online (#2)

Men: Men's Health (#2)

Motor Vehicles: SgCarMart (#1); Torque (#2)

Parenting: Young Parents (#1)