The New York Times is preparing to unveil a major redesign of its Web site as part of a larger push to improve and expand the brand’s digital publishing platform, with an eye to
highlighting journalism and advertising. The redesigned Web site will go live on Jan. 8; previews for a small number of readers began Jan. 2.
The new design aims to create a simpler,
more engaging and immersive user experience, including greater emphasis on video, photography and interactive elements, as well as easier sharing and commenting functions. Among other changes, the Web
site’s home page and section fronts are getting a fresh layout, more efficient navigation and content discovery, and new fonts.
The new site employs responsive design to optimize the
user experience across different devices, including tablets and desktops. The commenting function is getting a major makeover with the ability to read articles and comments side-by-side.
New York Times Co. executives said the new design provides the foundation for new features to come, including personalized navigation options. The company is also preparing to unveil a
native advertising platform developed under the leadership of executive vice president for advertising Meredith Kopit Levien, who previously helped create
Forbes’ pioneering native
advertising platform.
In November 2013, Levien told
Capital New York that the
NYT native ad platform will include a “suite of social amplification and analytics
tools to enable marketers to see and scale the value of those stories in real time.”
In December, the company introduced a new “Today’s Paper” Web app
replicating much of the layout and content of the daily newspaper in a form optimized for tablet and desktop browser.
Like other newspaper publishers, NYTCO is relying more on digital
revenues, especially from circulation, as print ad revenues continue to decline. In the third quarter of 2013, the company’s total circulation revenues rose 4.8% to $204.2 million, while total
advertising revenues fell 2% to $138 million. The increase in circulation revenues, resulting largely from digital subscription sales, helped fuel a 1.8% increase in overall revenues, to $361.7
million
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