Alert! Wall Street Journal To Offer Breaking News Via Desktop

The Wall Street Journal Online yesterday announced the launch of Desktop News Alerts, which will deliver business, tech, and news alerts to the desktops of any and all who want the free service. The alerts will include small, non-contextual advertisements, initially by AT&T.

"The Online Journal continues to provide 'out of the box' ideas that improve our advertising's ability to generate results," Jeff Bauer, media director at AT&T, said in a statement.

The Desktop News Alerts, which the Journal states are sent "within minutes of major news events," will appear in a small window on users' desktops--similar in appearance to an instant messaging window--with a link to the Online Journal for paid subscribers interested in full coverage.

David Long, co-founder and managing director of Skinkers, the British firm providing the software, said his company also works with broadcast organizations in Europe, including BBC News, BBC Sport, and Sky News. "Our new relationship with the Journal Online should make our validity clear to the U.S. market," he said.

Michael Henry, vice president of sales and strategy at the Wall Street Journal Online, said that signing up more subscribers wasn't a main reason for the move. "Yes, we hope the service generates a subscription or two, and yes, we welcome the extra bit of revenue it will generate," said Henry, "but we're providing a great service first and foremost, and users are going to appreciate that."

Desktop News Alerts offer three channels for users to choose from: News Alerts, which provide major business and world news; Tech Alerts, which provide major breaking news in the technology sector; and Markets Alerts, which provide major financial-market and trading news. Users have the option to shut off or "snooze" the alert if they don't want to be interrupted at any given time.

Is this the first of many free services the Online Journal is planning to offer? Not any time soon, Henry assured. "Our continued goal is to offer the best editorial coverage possible at a fair price."

Users can download Desktop News Alerts from the Online Journal's Web site at http://www.wsj.com/alerts.

Next story loading loading..