• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 25, 2024

New York Times Advertising has advanced its first-party data capabilities -- allowing advertisers to target across its portfolio of publications including The Athletic, News, Games, Cooking, Wirecutter and Audio. 

The idea is to reshape the economy of advertising. Rather than measure clicks and impressions, The New York Times plans to find a better way to understand its audience and results of campaigns based on what it calls "the most valuable impressions."

“Impressions are not created equal and depends on where a campaign appears, who sees it during what moments in the day, as well as the person’s state of mind,” said Valerio Poce, executive director of ad product marketing at The New York Times.

The publisher is investing in technology such as BrandMatch and insights and studies to understand how to reach the most valuable audience based on the advertiser.

Attention metrics are being considered to complement other technologies, as well as analyzing value based on engagement.

More than 240 audience segments are now available to advertisers around interest in specific topics such as luxury fashions, with a focus on the emotions that content might elicit such as optimism or hope, as well as gender and age.

Previously these were only available on news services, but the publisher has expanded audience segments across the portfolio of products such as cooking, audio podcasts, and more. All were built on first-party data.

Frequent surveys, which ask questions about how specific content makes the reader feel, support ad targeting. Those ads run across the publisher’s properties.

Attention to specific content also plays a role -- considering behavior, along with subscription profiles, Poce said.

For brands advertising on the New York Times, brand-lift studies have consistently shown that leveraging multiple platforms or multiple media types compounds impact and results. 

BrandMatch considers the articles during the past four years that readers have clicked on and spent time reading.

When asked how artificial intelligence and brand metrics play a role in audience segments and targeting ads, Poce said they are two separate and parallel workflows.

In building first-party audience segments, generative AI (GAI) is not used, but the publisher does use AI and machine learning to link survey responses, which makes the audience segments more addressable.

Combining the two has an interesting effect on targeting. “We are seeing when advertisers use first-party targeting and adding BrandMatch it boosts results about 30% compared with an average campaign running on the New York Times,” he said.

Poce said there is a direct correlation between a reader’s engagement with content and the number of actions they may take. The number of actions makes them less or more valuable to advertisers for most categories.

“Users who engage with two or more New York Times properties weekly are almost three times as likely to browse, shop, or purchase from premium athletic retailers compared to the general population,” Poce said. “And those who engage with four or more New York Times properties are more than four times as likely to make a purchase.”

Five million or more of the 11 million subscribers engage with two or more products across the New York Times properties, and the goal in 2025 is to exceed 50%, Poce said.

Earlier this month, New York Times reported it had added roughly 260,000 paid digital subscribers in the third quarter of the year. Revenue for digital rose 14.2% versus a year earlier. Digital advertising revenue also rose 8.8% year-over-year.

Subscriptions are fueling growth. The goal has been to reach 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027. It had 11.09 million at the end of the third quarter, with 10.47 million of those for digital products only.

The more engaged a user is across multiple places across the portfolio, the more valuable they are for advertisers, and the better ads perform. Nearly 80% of Engaged Portfolio users, or “Super Users,” note they are receptive to ads anywhere on the Times. 

Multiple categories also play a role. Those categories include premium and organic grocery stores, luxury goods, consumer electronics and premium athletic retailers. But the more interesting fact centers on the number of properties consumers engage with and the likelihood that they will make a purchase.

“Users who engage with two or more NYT properties weekly are almost three times as likely to browse, shop, or purchase from premium athletic retailers compared to the general population,” Poce said. “And those who engage with four or more NYT properties are more than 4 times as likely to make a purchase.”

During the past two years, campaigns using first-party targeting in combination with the Flex Suite have consistently driven click-through rates (CTRs) more than 2X as high as IAB benchmarks, comparing internal campaign data to benchmarks published by Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). The publisher has analyzed several quarters since 2023 and the rate is consistently over 2X.

Run of portfolio audience allows advertisers to seamlessly purchase specific audience segments cross-portfolio and reach an audience at any point in the user journey, whether on News, Cooking, Games, or other Times properties. 

Lifestyle content focuses on the ability for advertisers to connect with audience segments next to lifestyle content (Games, Cooking, Wirecutter, The Athletic, and News excluding politics, U.S., World, and Opinion sections).

Superuser targeting -- the newest targeting method -- offers access to audiences who spend time with and engage the most with the New York Times properties.

NYT research has shown that readers who engage more and more often with The Times portfolio have a higher propensity to take actions that are valuable for brands (like shopping products or attending events) and are also more likely to be receptive to ads.