The New York Times is Making News with the Debut of its App, NYT Now

The New York Times is keeping up with the times by moving in a more digital direction and launching a new mobile app called NYT Now. The app will offer access to an engaging online news experience comprised of specially selected stories from The New York Times and the overall Internet. This digital move is big news for the long-standing print publication, but the breaking story for advertisers is that all ads on NYT Now will be in the form of Paid Posts, which is the newspaper’s name for native advertising. This $8-per-month mobile app for iPhone and iPod is scheduled to debut on April 2. Along with these additions, the newspaper is launching Times Premier, a premium product that will provide exclusive extras and all-content access for $45 per month. TechCrunch.com gave the inside story on how The New York Times is bringing its news to new media.

While the newspaper experience remains popular among audiences, today’s new breed of readers wants their news in snippets and sound bites, in a format that’s more condensed than comprehensive. NYT Now will meet that market’s needs by featuring a curated collection of articles, videos, infographics, and slideshows chosen by a team of 10 mobile-minded editors.

On the advertising front, the news is about Paid Posts, and digital marketers will be happy to hear that these native ads will appear in NYT Now and then be expanded into the newspaper’s main app in the coming months.

The New York Times has been steadily making the move toward digital since 2012 when the company partnered with Flipboard to offer its pay-walled content through that mobile app. By December 2013, the newspaper had 760,000 paid subscribers to its many digital subscription packages, e-readers, and replica editions of its domestic and international publications. And by February 2014, the newspaper had 42 million worldwide unique monthly visitors to NYTimes.com, with nearly half of that traffic from mobile apps and the mobile Web.

“Just under a year ago we outlined our strategy to expand our digital product portfolio to continue to grow digital revenues,” said New York Times Company CEO Mark Thompson. “Next week, this strategy will come to life…our goal with this next phase of our paid products strategy is to satisfy the demand for Times journalism by giving new subscribers the ability to choose the amount of access they desire at a price point that suits them, and to enhance the value we offer our current loyal subscribers.”

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