Last week, the New York Times again made headlines, with the sacking of executive editor Jill Abramson and her immediate replacement by Dean Baquet, which made him the first African-American to lead the publication. Another important fact was the release of a New York Times’s internal report on digital innovation, which published in full by Mashable.
The report’s introduction reaffirms the importance of delivering the best in journalism — deep, broad, smart and engaging but with more improvements in reaching readers. According to the report, readership fell significantly not only on the website, but also on smartphone apps. Thus, the urgency for ‘smart’ new strategies to win over audience.
In reader traffic, the New York Times is in fourth place after the ‘Huffington Post’, ‘USA Today’ and BuzzFeed, while the ‘Wall Street Journal’ is fifth.
It is interesting that the New York Times did not use an external company to discover the problems and find solutions. Led by A.G. Sulzberger, son of the publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., it created an in-house team of the most forward-thinking minds from around the newsroom, with the help of two other professionals.
In brief, the strategy to grow the audience rests on;
* Discovery: Improved technology will allow the New York Times to use the best tools to ensure information reaches the right readers at the right place and at the right time. Investing more in the work of tagging and structuring data, in addition to organising and packaging content in more useful ways, with information that is relevant for readers.
* Promotion: Structuring the newsroom in a way that ensures content will have maximum readership impact. Encourage reporters and editors to promote their stories. Invest in the process of optimisation, for search and social. Ensure the updating of tools and workflow.
* Connection: Deepen connections with both online and offline audiences. Foster a two-way relationship to engage with the journalist and journalism. The newsroom as a whole must take the reins in pursuing user-generated content, events and other forms of engagement that reflects the New York Times’ standards and values.
There is a desire to invest more in digital-first. Although print accounts for a smaller percentage of readers, according to the report more than three-quarters of advertising and subscription revenues still come from the newspaper. But a huge majority of readers are on digital, representing an opportunity.
According to the report, recruiting the right talent for digital is imperative. Hire a digital native, one who has grown up in a digital world rather than adjusted to it. The report, which is still a draft, gives a clear idea of the future plans for online.
