{"id":18499,"date":"2016-11-18T15:03:44","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T20:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/the-new-york-times-adapts-to-the-digital-age\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T17:37:55","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T22:37:55","slug":"the-new-york-times-adapts-to-the-digital-age","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/the-new-york-times-adapts-to-the-digital-age\/","title":{"rendered":"The New York Times Adapts to the Digital Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

The newspaper industry has been impacted dramatically by the rise of digital technologies [1].\u00a0 The business model employed by traditional newspaper companies enjoyed decades of success.\u00a0 However, changing consumer preferences and the availability of free digital news via online and mobile platforms has shaken that business model to its core.\u00a0 As evidence, see Figure 1<\/strong> below which shows the degree to which industry-wide U.S. print newspaper revenues have decreased every year since 2005 [2].\u00a0 The New York Times is one of the many companies that has had its existence threatened by this digitization of the industry.<\/p>\n

Figure 1<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"newspaper-revenue\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The New York Times has taken several actions to respond to threats posed by news digitization.\u00a0 The first key step has been migrating their content online and creating a NY Times app so that their readers can access content from anywhere [3].\u00a0 While the most critical component was making new articles available on these digital platforms, the NY Times invested significant time and resources into making nearly all their historical articles available digitally as well [4].\u00a0 This step increased the overall value proposition of their digital offering.\u00a0 The next major task\u00a0was to monetize their digital product.\u00a0 In 2011, NY Times began charging readers for an online subscription if they desired to read more than 20 articles per month [5].\u00a0 That monthly limit has since been reduced to 10 articles in an attempt to increase the number of subscribers [6].\u00a0 To their credit, the NY Times has also expanded their scope beyond written content.\u00a0 Specifically, they\u2019ve created several podcasts intended to attract new, younger consumers to their brand [7].\u00a0 These podcasts are free for listeners but generate advertising revenue [7].<\/p>\n

The NY Times had to alter their own culture to effectively adapt their product offerings and meet changing customer expectations [8].\u00a0 For a 164-year-old company, organizational change can be particularly difficult.\u00a0 First off, they had to embrace a culture of experimentation and acceptance of failure to allow for innovative new ideas to thrive [8].\u00a0 Second, the company has had to shift from a work environment that was traditionally siloed by department to one that involves a ton of cross-functional collaboration [8].\u00a0 For example, the production of smartphone apps requires teamwork between employees who focus on technology, marketing, content creation, etc.\u00a0 Finally, they had to reassess some of their content production goals to best fit the consumption habits of digital news readers.\u00a0 Per editor Clifford Levy, this involved shifting from their traditional mindset of seeking the best possible investigative story to thinking about how they can provide the type of digestible content that can improve their readers lives in the limited amount of time which readers devote to news each day [8].\u00a0 These changes have resulted in financial performance which has at least kept pace with the limited expectations for the industry [9].\u00a0 In the third quarter of 2016 total revenue was just 1% below that of 2015 and the number of digital subscribers increased by 116,000 from the prior quarter [9].<\/p>\n

Overall, the New York Times has done an impressive job of remaining relevant despite the transition to digital news. \u00a0One area in which they could improve is more effectively using customer data to convert free-loading readers to paying customers.\u00a0 In their current model, once a reader reaches the monthly article limit their only option to continue reading is a subscription [10].\u00a0 For many young readers, I\u2019d imagine that the shift from paying nothing for news to making a recurring monthly payment is too big of a leap for them to stomach.\u00a0 After all, millennial consumers have been trained over time to expect online information to be free.\u00a0 To address this issue, I suggest NY Times use their data to identify readers who may need to be weaned into the paying model more gently.\u00a0 Specifically, I would identify all readers who have attempted to read an 11th<\/sup> article (and thus been informed that they must subscribe to continue reading) in each of the past two months but have chosen not to subscribe.\u00a0 When those readers hit their 11th<\/sup> article the following month, I would offer them the ability to pay 10 cents to read just that single article.\u00a0 Given that the expense is tiny and non-recurring, some of these customers are likely to find it more palatable than a subscription.\u00a0 I would allow them to pay on a per article basis for 2-3 months.\u00a0 In subsequent months, they would be offered only the subscription option after hitting the monthly article limit.\u00a0 My expectation is that some of them would find the transition to a subscription payment more tolerable after having previously demonstrated to themselves that they are indeed willing to pay SOMETHING for this service.\u00a0 There are many potential ways to tweak this strategy, but the general idea of using data to identify ways in which to treat different customers differently could have a significant positive impact.\u00a0 (798 words)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] C. Taylor, \u201cHow Internet Affects the Newspaper Business,\u201d Chron<\/em>, http:\/\/smallbusiness.chron.com\/internet-affects-newspaper-business-39364.html<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

[2] Lydia Polgreen, \u201cWhy People Pay to Read The New York Times,\u201d Medium<\/em>, May 9, 2016, https:\/\/medium.com\/@lydiapolgreen\/why-people-pay-to-read-the-new-york-times-60720880e707#.3vh1651zw<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

[3] Benjamin Mullin, \u201cMeet Beta, the Team that Brings The New York Times to Your Smartphone,\u201d Poynter<\/em>, March 25, 2016, https:\/\/medium.com\/@lydiapolgreen\/why-people-pay-to-read-the-new-york-times-60720880e707#.3vh1651zw<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

[4] Sophia Van Valkenburg and Evan Sandhaus, \u201cThe Future of the Past: Modernizing the New York Times Archive,\u201d Open<\/em>, July 26, 2016, http:\/\/open.blogs.nytimes.com\/2016\/07\/26\/the-future-of-the-past-modernizing-the-new-york-times-archive\/<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

[5] Jeremy W. Peters, \u201cThe Times Announces Digital Subscription Plan,\u201d The New York Times<\/em>, March 17, 2011, http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/03\/18\/business\/media\/18times.html<\/a>, November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

[6] The New York Times, \u201cDigital Subscriptions,\u201d http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/content\/help\/account\/purchases\/subscriptions-and-purchases.html<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

[7] Liz Spayd, \u201cTaking the Plunge Into the Podcase Pool,\u201d The New York Times<\/em>, October 22, 2016, http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/23\/public-editor\/podcasts-new-york-times-liz-spayd-public-editor.html<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

[8] Eric Johnson, \u201cThe New York Times has to Think Like a Tech Startup, NYT Digital Editors Say,\u201d September 1, 2016, http:\/\/www.recode.net\/2016\/9\/1\/12732004\/sam-dolnick-cliff-levy-new-york-times-digital-strategy-nytnow-virtual-reality<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

[9] \u201cNew York Times Print Revenue Drops but Digital Grows,\u201d Crain\u2019s<\/em>, November 2, 2016, http:\/\/www.crainsnewyork.com\/article\/20161102\/TECHNOLOGY\/161109962\/new-york-times-print-revenue-drops-but-digital-grows-as-push-for-digital-subscriptions-continues<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

[10] The New York Times, https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8RX3Y.html<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Figure 1 & Cover Image<\/u><\/p>\n

Lydia Polgreen, \u201cWhy People Pay to Read The New York Times,\u201d Medium<\/em>, May 9, 2016, https:\/\/medium.com\/@lydiapolgreen\/why-people-pay-to-read-the-new-york-times-60720880e707#.3vh1651zw<\/a>, accessed November 18, 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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