• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 5, 2009

The New York Times made history. Again. On Monday, it ran an ad on its front page for the first time in its existence--yet another indication of how dire the fortunes of big newspaper publishers have become. As the industry reels from the one-two punch of Internet competition and recession, once-sacrosanct barriers to advertising are coming crashing down.

The Times inaugurated the new inventory availability with a display ad for CBS, appearing in a two-and-a-half-inch horizontal strip at the bottom of the front page. Advertisers will only be able to place ads below the fold. The CBS ad promotes some of its most popular shows, including "CSI," "Two and a Half Men," "60 Minutes," "The Mentalist" and CBS Sports' football coverage.

Although many big newspapers have offered advertisers front-page spots, The New York Times long prided itself on presenting readers with nothing but news--in keeping with the paper's reputation for substance and gravitas.

However, advertising has crept onto the front page of some sections: In August, The New York Times Sunday Magazine debuted its first cover wrap, a half-page advertisement for U.S. Trust, Bank of America's private wealth-management division. The newspaper has also begun offering spadia ads in some sections, such as "Business Day" or "The Arts," with unique positioning for online ads and single-sponsor magazine issues. (Spadias are a page wrapped around the spine of a section of the paper that appears as a partial page.)

The Times finally yielded the front-page spot amid great financial distress, as print ad revenues plunge and online revenues don't make up the difference. In the third quarter of 2008, ad revenue fell 8.9% to $687 million, compared to the same period in 2007. While fourth-quarter results are not yet available, total revenues decreased 9.4% in October and 13.9% in November.

The company recently announced plans to raise cash by mortgaging its headquarters in Manhattan and selling its stake in the Boston Red Sox. p> "With a weekday readership of 2.8 million and a Sunday readership of 4.2 million, The New York Times is the largest seven-day newspaper in the United States," said Denise Warren, chief advertising officer for the NYT Media Group. <

"It's exciting that CBS is kicking off The New York Times' inaugural front-page ad," said George Schweitzer, president, CBS Marketing Group. "America's most-watched network will clearly have one of the most-read ads--and we value this new means of prominently showcasing our valuable media properties."