• by Sara Guaglione , February 16, 2018

The New York Times is offering added data services to brands, based on the same tools and insights that power the newspaper.

Called nytDemo, the new team will be responsible for adapting existing tools across various divisions. It is a collaboration of The Times’ data, product and design, technology and advertising groups, providing expertise to marketers to help them develop targeted branded campaigns.

DEMO stands for “data, engineering, measurement and optimization.”

“Marketers feel inundated with data, but have not yet figured out the best way to deal with it,” Murphy told The Wall Street Journal.

This is a new business for The Times, which despite hitting above revenue targets last year, is looking beyond advertising to support the company. The paper's advertising revenue slipped by just over 1% last year, and advertising now represents one-third of the company’s total revenue.

“We see insights as the next frontier for The Times’ advertising business,” stated Allison Murphy, vice president of advertising innovation. She will also lead nytDEMO.

Murphy continued, “We have to make a product that's worth paying for, which means we have to know our audience with extraordinary depth, and turn those insights into engaging products. Brands that work with us crave insights to guide their strategies.”

The Advertising & Marketing Solutions Group plans to launch a number of new products and tools out of nytDEMO this year. The first is called Project Feels, based on The Times’ data science, that tries to understand and predict how readers engage with content.

Based on the machine-learning powering Project Feels, nytDEMO has launched a new ad product called “perspective targeting." It allows advertisers to attach ads to articles predicted to ignite a certain emotional response from readers, such as adventurousness or self-confidence.

nytDEMO will also launch Readerscope, an AI-driven data insights tool inspired by the newspaper's efforts to grow its international readership. Readerscope can determine which readers in different countries are interested in certain topics.