January 14, 2014

The Long island Times’ long-awaited Web revamp across tablets and desktops shows the numerous role that new advertising opportunities and mobile-geared features will play for publishers in monetizing all kinds of digital content.

The publisher launched a responsive site last week it’s built for desktops and tablets that draws in mobile-designed articles, videos and social sharing. Additionally, the revamp lines up with the primary sponsored content campaigns that Intel and Dell have launched.

“The last time we redesigned the location was 2006, when touch devices weren’t even available in the market, so optimizing the navigation for touch devices was a prime goal,” said Linda Zebian, spokeswoman for the hot York Times, Ny.

“We also wanted to create a responsive design for both desktops and tablets, reduce the quantity of visual competition on each page, create more resonance between the net and print editions and permit for brand spanking new ad configurations,” she said.

Betting on responsive
The refreshed site is supposed to showcase video and high-resolution photos for desktop and tablet devices. Given the immersive quality of media on tablets, it truly is no surprise that videos and pictures are among the many biggest emphasis areas with the redesign. 

Using a brand new responsive Website design layout, content loads faster, pulls comments into the side of articles and encourages more social media sharing in order that consumers can read comments and articles simultaneously. 

Additionally, the menu section at the homepage is condensed to indicate less options, that is another design element that was pulled from mobile.

The new layout incorporates more white space onto article pages, that’s compatible for tablet readers with smaller screens.

A new article at the Ny Times

The redesign also brings the 1st sponsored posts to the recent York Times’ sites. 

Dell is the 1st advertiser to leverage a sponsored post, that is promoted with masthead panels at the publisher’s home page and a decision-to-action along the fitting side of the screen.

Copy inside the sponsored post reads, “Paid post” to indicate that the content isn’t editorial content from the hot York Times.

Dell’s sponsored post

Dell is promoting four different pieces of sponsored articles at the topics of millennials, women within the workforce, the intersection of promoting and IT departments in offices and what the govt can learn from startups about creating nimble organizations.

When consumers click a sponsored ad, they’re taken to a page with a sponsored URL that begins with http://paidpost.nytimes.com.  

Additionally, a shaded bar around the top of the screen marks the content as sponsored, comparable to how Buzzfeed highlights sponsored content.

Intel is additionally running a sponsored post campaign that links to a piece of writing titled, “Fashion and Tech Industries Co-Invent the way forward for Wearables.”

Intel’s sponsored post

Although there are still a lot of ethical questions round the separation of editorial and sponsored content, the recent York Times’ move into sponsored content shows a few of the ways in which publishers need to monetize content outside of a basic banner ad.

At the identical time that major publishers are searhing for new how you can integrate sponsored posts into content, the Federal Trade Commission is usually cracking down on what a sponsored mobile advertisement should seem to be.

In December, the FTC hosted an afternoon-long workshop that was geared toward helping remedy many of the confusion that native ads cause for readers.

Native ads will stay at the FTC’s radar this year and is operating on creating standards for the publishing industry.

The new redesign or sponsored ads don’t seem to be reflected inside the mobile version of the hot York Times’ site. However, the publisher’s mobile site was revamped in May 2013.

New subscription models
The new redesign is leading as much as the rollout of a lower-priced digital subscription model that the recent York Times will put into place later this year.

According to Ms. Zebian, the lower-priced option is meant to present readers a fast nugget of the main news. This model is designed for mobile-first media consumption since consumers are more inclined to skim through headlines and articles from their smartphones and tablets.

The newspaper giant was some of the first within the publishing industry to successfully monetize subscriptions through a digital paywall. 

Over time though, the quantity of paid content that buyers can access has changed slightly.

In June of last year, The recent York Times rolled out metering on its mobile applications in order that readers could access as much as three articles an afternoon across any section (see story).

In March 2012, The brand new York Times went from offering 20 free monthly articles to 10 for non-subscribers (see story).

“I think the brand new York Times recognizes that increasingly in their readers are using multiple screens to get their news,” said Tony Vlismas, senior director of promoting at Polar, Toronto.

Mr. Vlismas isn’t affiliated with the hot York Times. He commented in keeping with his expertise at the subject.

“And while mobile usage is at a record high, often someone might start a narrative on their desktop, but finish it on their tablet while watching television or on their smartphone while riding the bus home,” he said.

“A consistent user experience across all screens is more imperative now than ever and responsive aids in that. Moreover, native advertising works great in a responsive system whereas other display ads will possibly not make its thanks to smaller screens.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York