by Rome Jorge
The New York Times has shown the way how print can survive the digital era. People have been writing about the allegedly inevitable demise of print publications for decades. True enough, Newsweek magazine ceased print publication on December 31, 2012. According to publication database MediaFinder, of the 190 new magazines launched in 2014, 99 have already closed. Publications have been groping for business models that can compete free content online.
Then
The New York Times was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond, journalist and Republican politician in 1851 when the GOP was still that of President Abraham Lincoln and other anti-slavery proponents. In 1897, new publisher Adolph Ochs coined the paper’s slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” distinguishing it from its competitors’ lurid sensationalist stories with objectivity and relevance. The New York Times has since won 117 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper.
In 1996, the paper went online. For 2008, the domain nytimes.com attracted at least 146 million visitors. The same year, the publication became available as an app. In 2010, the publication experimented with gamification and digitized archives through reCAPTCHA.
In 2005, the paper attempted unsuccessfully a subscription-based online business model for its daily columns known as TimesSelect. In 2011, a paywall was instituted, allowing online readers full access only upon subscription. In 2013, the paper began earning more through subscriptions than through advertising.
Now
At the 2016 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, The New York Times virtual reality video ‘The Displaced’ won the Lions Entertainment Grand Prix for Entertainment and Mobile categories. ‘The Displaced’ provided immersive, insightful, and moving reportage about refugee children from South Sudan, Ukraine, and Syria.
‘The Displaced’ was made in 2015 by T Brand Studio, The New York Times in-house VR production unit. According to the the video case study for ‘The Displaced,’ NYT’S Google Cardboard VR viewers were delivered to 1.3 million print subscribers. According to The New York Times, as of April this year the virtual reality app on Google Play and the Apple App Store has since been downloaded more than 600,000 times. NYT VR garnered over 1.5 million views with an average engagement time of six minutes per session.
For 2016, NYT VR’s offering includes: ‘The Modern Games’ that relives unforgettable olympic history moments, ‘Pilgrimage’ that journeys to Mecca, ‘The Fight for Fallujah’ with onsite reportage on the battle against the Daesh (Islamic State), ‘My Mother’s Wing’ highlighting a woman coping with the loss of her two children in Gaza, Palestine, and ‘A History Of Cuban Dance’ featuring santería rumba, mambo, cha-cha-chá, salsa, breakdancing, and reggaeton.
Illustration by Jap Mikel
