How To Save The New York Times
Yesterday, the New York Times declared it’s revenue was down 18.6 percent. The company incurred a $61.6 million operating loss compared to an operating profit of $6.2 million in the first quarter of 2008.
While the economy had a great deal to do with the paper’s financial woes, there are things the Times can do to put themselves in a better position for the future. Here are my 5 ideas to help save the New York Times.
- Partner with Instapaper…People who want to read New York Times content cannot always access that content if they have no web connection. Give them the ability while they’re reading the times on the web or on their phone to save articles to read later, even if they are not connected to the web. The Times can make some money doing this too. Partner with Instapaper to get the Instapaper button on every article on the New York Time online. In exchange, Instapaper would give the Times a percentage of their revenue. This is all assuming Marco would be interested in this sort of arrangement.
- Charge for exclusive content…ESPN Insider provides reader with content they can’t get from the public ESPN. Those folks who want to dive deeper into the information behind the articles, get those great analytical presentations the Times is known for, should pay a nominal monthly fee for access to this kind of content.
- Sell content to web publishers…Give web publishers access to Times photos and widgets to publish Times content for a fee. While it is easy to just grab it off the website, some publishers don’t want to be bothered and would welcome an interface that would allow them to search relevant content or have a ‘smart’ widget that could find Times content relevant to the topic being discussed on the webpage it is placed on.
- Auction ad space…Force advertisers to fight over ad space. Competitors will try and outbid each other for prime real estate on NYTimes.com.
- Sell content space to bloggers…For bloggers who want more exposure, sell space on NYTimes.com to bloggers who want their content displayed among other NYTimes writers. Editors who find the blogger’s content compelling enough may push the content to the front page of the NYTimes.com and even to the print edition as well.
These are just a few ideas that came to mind. Reblog and add others or why you think mine won’t work.
