NYTimes to Co-Brand with IHT for Better Ad Monetization

The New York Times announced last week that it will merge the Web site of its internationally focused paper, the International Herald Tribune, with its flagship New York Times site — NYTimes.com. The goal is to provide advertisers with greater audience reach, enhanced interactivity, and more sophisticated ad opportunities.

Users will now be able to reach a co-branded global edition site via IHT.com or NYTimes.com, where they will be presented with the option of viewing either U.S. or global content.

The move was not prompted by weak traffic or ad revenues, IHT Publisher Stephen Dunbar-Johnson told ClickZ News. Rather, he said, the change was one involving editorial and journalistic strategy. “IHT.com delivers strong margins, and along with its dramatic increases in traffic, the site has consistently delivered year-on-year advertising growth in the double digits,” he stated.

“By combing the vast digital expertise and news gathering resources of the Times with the distinctive international news judgement of the IHT we can better serve users and the advertisers that want to reach them,” he added.

The new edition is designed to provide advertisers with greater audience reach, enhanced interactivity, and “a wide range of sophisticated ad products and targeting opportunities” that are not currently available on the IHT.com site. New e-mail and mobile services are also due to be launched for international users.

According to New York Times SVP and GM Vivian Schiller, around 18 percent of traffic to the NYTimes.com site currently comes from outside of the U.S. Similarly, a substantial amount of IHT traffic is originating from within the U.S. “We asked ourselves: is this two site strategy the best way to reach the most online users with our collective news report? And further, is this two site strategy really the best way to generate the most revenue to support that news report? We’ve come to the conclusion it is not.”

When asked if any staff would be let go as the result of the changes, Dunbar-Johnson said simply that staff would be “reassigned or relocated” to best meet the needs of the new global edition. Although admitting the current outlook for advertising is “concerning,” he stated that the New York Times Media Group as a whole is “well positioned to manage through difficult economic conditions.”

The Group’s international sales representatives will continue to sell inventory as they do now for both the IHT and NYT sites, as well as the print properties in the group. Current advertisers with IHT.com include Emirates, Cartier, ING, Marriot International, Intel and Christies