The New York Times Company is the holding company for a number of different publications, websites and assets that are separate from its revered daily newspaper. Through these, The New York Times brand has been able to make its mark on its consumers with dedicated formats and platforms that specialize in lifestyle, culture, sports and a wide-range of other consumer products.
The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine, included with The New York Times’ Sunday edition, features well-known contributors and longer articles than those that are typically available in the newspaper itself. In addition to its unique articles, it is also well recognized for including iconic photography and imagery.
- The idea of a weekly magazine to accompany the main Sunday newspaper was initially proposed in 1896 by Adolph Ochs who was the new owner of The NYT.
- The following year, the New York Time Magazine produced a 16-page spread of photographs to document the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
- Although costly, the decision proved to be extremely popular and helped turn the magazine into a consistent favorite with readers.
- From the 1920s through to the 1950s, the magazine was seen as the ideal format to become a “forum of ideas” by its Editor Lester Markel.
- As such, the magazine began including contributions from well-known individuals such as Albert Einstein, Leo Tolstoy and Gertrude Stein.
- The New York Times magazine published its first op-ed page in 1970, which led to a shift away from its previous focus on editorial pieces.
- Due to their uptake with readers, the New York Times Magazine even includes the larger Sunday crossword puzzle along other daily games from the The New York Times’ puzzle section.
T: The New York Times Style Magazine
Covering a variety of different specialized topics such as beauty, fashion, living, design and travel, T is The New York Times’ perfect-bound magazine publication. With its own dedicated team of staff members, T was given a specific design that helps separate it from the well-known New York Times Magazine in the eyes of the audience.
- T: The New York Times Style Magazine was launched by The New York Times Company in late-2004.
- It was launched to appeal to readers with a range of cultural interests, combining interviews with smooth visuals to showcase and reflect the latest styles and fashion trends.
- Between 2013 – 2016 it was published 13 times per year, however since then it has been published 11 times per year.
- In addition to its English-language version, there are also country-specific versions for Spain, Qatar, China, Singapore, Japan and Australia.
The Athletic
Originally created in 2016 by Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann, The Athletic is a sports journalism website that now operates as the sports section of The New York Times. Available on a subscription-only basis, it provides coverage of sports at both national and local levels with a regional focus on North America and the United Kingdom.
- In 2022, The Athletic was purchased for $550 million by The New York Times company.
- By July 2023, The New York Times decided to integrate The Athletic into its main website to replace its existing sports department and section.
- For the 2023 financial year, The Athletic generated $131.27 million in revenue for The New York Times Group.
- It provides coverage of a comprehensive list of sports including American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Golf, Hockey, MMA, Motorsports, Soccer and Tennis.
- The Athletic provides a unique product offering of original reporting, in-depth analysis and long-form journalism to appeal to a new generation of sports fans.
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review (NYTBR) is a well-recognized and popular publication that provides reviews of recently released fiction and nonfiction book titles. It is available as a weekly paper-magazine supplement to readers who purchase The New York Times’ Sunday edition.
- A separate book review section had been associated with The New York Times since 1896 but in 1911, the decision was made to move the review to Sundays only as it was believed that readers would have more free time available during the day to look through it.
- As of 2024, readers can purchase a version through bookstores, newsstands or subscriptions.
- Alternatively, they can receive it as an insert to The New York Times’ Sunday Edition (without a cover price).
- In each weekly supplement between 20 to 30 books are chosen for review, hand-selected from up to 1,000 books received in the mail from authors and publishers.
- One 2010 study of the supplement’s reviews found that while positive book reviews were beneficial to the authors they reviewed, negative reviews only provided benefits when it came to lesser-known authors.
- Due to the popularity of the NYTBR, “Inside The New York Times Book Review” was released as The New York Times’ first ever podcast in 2006 and it has been recorded weekly ever since.
- The target audience of the NYTBR are intended to be intelligent adult readers with a general-interest.
Wirecutter
Wirecutter is a popular website that provides consumers with product reviews alongside detailed guides that compare and recommend multiple consumer products with each other. Instead of focusing on standard web advertising, Wirecutter earns most of its revenue through including links to the products it recommends (affiliate marketing) but to prevent bias, its reviewers are not informed of the commission rates for each product.
- Wirecutter was founded by Brian Lam in 2011 before being purchased by The New York Times Company for around $30 million in 2016.
- Between 2011 – 2016, Wirecutter’s affiliate programs with its merchant partners generated the company around $150 million in total.
- Due to its affiliate-focused business model, Wirecutter is less dependent on advertising revenue than other news sites and blogs, even though it has previously chosen to display banner advertisements.
- In 2023, almost 800 different product guides were released through Wirecutter.
The New York Times International Edition
In order to cater to a global audience, The New York Times International Edition was launched in English in 1943. Although the International Edition is greatly recognized throughout the world through its famous printed edition, it is also available digitally and can be viewed on web, mobile and tablet.
- In 1967, 24 years after its launch, The New York Times International Edition was discontinued in 1967 due to losing around $2 million per year and being seen as inferior to the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune.
- During the same year, the separate International Herald Tribune was formed by The Washington Post and The New York Times (although its origins as an international paper date back to 1887).
- By late-2002, The New York Times made an agreement to purchase The Washington Post’s 50% stake and in 2013 the decision was made to rebrand The International Herald Tribune as The New York Times International Edition.
- As of 2024, The New York Times International Edition is distributed all over the globe and due to this, it contains global and unique stories that appeal to international readers in addition to stories that have a North American focus.
- Furthermore, content may even be adapted within different versions of The New York Times International Edition so that it is as relevant as possible to each specific local audience.
- Outside of the US, the International Edition tends to arrive in major cities on the same day as it is published in New York, allowing global news readers to access their paper without delay (although distribution and logistical factors may impact this).
Other NYT international editions
In recent years, region and language-specific international editions of The New York Times have also been created to attract new readerships, such as native speakers of other languages or those from selected territories. It remains to be seen whether the decision to create these new variants may act as a precursor to future trends.
The New York Times Canada
Since the first year of The New York Times’ publication in 1851, the popular and renowned newspaper has been covering stories with an emphasis on the US plus a reduced number that are unique to Canada. However due to the demands of the digital age, in 2016 The New York Times Canada edition was created with specific reporters for the country and a focus on news articles that directly interest or impact Canadians on a day-to-day basis.
The New York Times in Spanish
A Spanish-language website version of the popular newspaper was launched in 2016, named The New York Times en Español. Intended as a digital-only edition that can be read on mobile devices, it contains articles from the original NYT publication that have been translated and adapted according to Spanish writing conventions, in addition to unique reports produced by correspondents based in Mexico City and other Spanish-speaking locations.
The New York Times in Chinese
Following The WSJ and Financial Times decisions to make Chinese editions of their newspapers, The New York Times also decided to create a Chinese-language version of their website in 2012. Although it has encountered intermittent censorship and blocking from Chinese authorities, it has continued striving to provide its readership with independent and insightful reporting across different subject areas.
Times Books
Previously known as The New York Times Book Company, Times Books is a publishing imprint of The New York Times Company that was initially founded in 1959. However, the imprint was re-licensed in 2000 as part of the Henry Holt imprint of Holtzbrinck Publishers/Macmillan.