New York Times Co. said in a statement today that they will offer a method to help other publishers deliver content to digital platforms such as Apple’s iPad and iPhone devices. Individual publishers and media that take advantage of the technology will continue to control and own their advertising and subscriptions while New York Times Co. collects licensing and maintenance fees. The new product will be called Press Engine.
“This is part of the multi-faceted move into new technology. They’ve got the content, they’ve got the brainpower. We’ll see if people will pay for this stuff.” — Ed Atorino, analyst at Benchmark Co. in New York
The product will be introduced in the fourth quarter. Among the first to take advantage are The Telegraph Media group, publisher of the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph, and A.H. Belo Corp., the Dallas-based owner of the Dallas Morning News. According to data from the Newspaper Association of America, print advertising sales fell 11 percent in the U.S. in the first quarter. Publishers are in desperate need of a way to replace that revenue and this could be just what the industry needs.
In January, the New York Times will be launching a new online subscription-based model, limiting access to much of their content for paid subscribers only. While they already have a free iPad app, they will also be selling an enhanced Apple iPad application to work alongside it. Release of Press Engine comes after other publishers kept asking about it.
“Over the last year there’s been a particular amount of interest from different clients asking whether we would be willing to license the code of our own New York Times application.” — Christine Topalian, a director of the News Services division at the Times
This platform not only brings revenue in for Times Co., but also extends the possibilities for other companies and shows us one idea for ways to diversify the publishing business. Before today, Times Co. had declined 29 percent this year. This announcement brought a rise of “58 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $9.32, at 12 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.”