The New York Times is launching a new initiative designed to convince people who still buy their newspapers from newsstands to instead head to the New York Times website.
The initiative will see users getting a "digital day pass," which will grant access to the New York Times website and apps for the duration of the day that the user purchases the physical newspaper.
Each newspaper will essentially include a keyword that customers can text to a provided number in order to be sent a link that will activate the digital access. Users will, of course, need a NYTimes.com account, but if they don't have one they will be prompted to create one. The registration process is fairly simple, and requires an email address and password. After the registration process is over, users will have full access to the content that the company provides until 11:59 p.m. EDT.
"The goal is to drive incremental loyalty among our newsstand customers and to also give them a similar benefit to that of our home-delivery customers, who receive All Digital Access complimentary with their subscription," said a spokesperson for the company in an interview with TechCrunch.
The New York Times is currently sold at a whopping 48,000 retailers around the nation, including retailers like Starbucks. Like other newspapers, the New York Times is attempting to transition to digital sales, and while many online publications make money from ads and offer content for free, the NYT is using a paid subscription model, keeping its content largely for paid subscribers. The company recently hit the 1 million mark on digital subscribers, and its revenue from digital sales will total almost $200 million this year.
It's not yet known if the new initiative will actually convert customers from buying physical newspapers to buying a digital subscription. It is hard to imagine many of the people purchasing a physical copy of the newspaper transitioning to digital subscriptions, although if it does happen it will likely translate to a lot more money for the newspaper.
Via: TechCrunch
