The New York Times launched a new audio app, betting that a separate home for podcasts like The Daily and other formats will provide a boost to its subscription business.
(Bloomberg) — The New York Times launched a new audio app, betting that a separate home for podcasts like The Daily and other formats will provide a boost to its subscription business.
New York Times Audio is only available to subscribers and includes well-known shows and content from companies the Times has acquired in recent years such as Serial Productions, The Athletic and Audm, which narrates long-form journalism.
Since the success of The Daily, which debuted in 2017 and remains a top US podcast, the Times has been exploring how to offer a full news report in audio for consumers who, for instance, are already busy doing the dishes, driving or walking the dog.
The Times’ focus is “How do we go after every moment of your day that we can?” asked Stephanie Preiss, the company’s senior vice president and general manager of audio.
The app will have exclusive shows, many of them shorter than a typical podcast. The Headlines covers stories each morning in 10 minutes or less. Shorts features Times journalists recommending what to watch, cook and read, among other things. Reporter Reads offers articles read aloud by Times journalists who explain how their story came together.
The Magazine Stand section of the app will feature narrated versions of long-form journalism from other publishers, which was previously found in Audm. With the launch of the Times’ audio app, the Audm app will shut down and its subscribers will move to the new app and pay the same rate.
“What we’re trying to do is create new formats around news and lifestyle journalism that don’t exist in the podcast ecosystem,” said Sam Dolnick, a deputy managing editor who oversees the Times’ audio report. “This is for someone who never wants to look at their screen but still wants the breadth and depth that the Times offers.”
The app is part of the Times’ broader strategy to offer a wide range of products, believing subscribers who pay for a bundle of apps will pay more and stick around longer than those who pay for just one. The Times has about 9.7 million subscribers, including more than 3 million who pay for more than one product, such as news, games, cooking, The Athletic and Wirecutter, a product-recommendation site.
While the Times subscription business remains healthy, advertising has been weak lately as marketers pull back spending in an uncertain economy. In the first quarter, the Times reported a drop in advertising revenue, including from podcasts.
The app, which has been tested for more than a year, includes some advertising. The Times will still distribute its podcasts on platforms like Spotify Technology SA and Apple Inc., which help fuel ad sales.
The Times decided to put the audio app behind a paywall, in part, after seeing the success of its subscriber-only newsletters. But getting listeners to make a new daily habit of visiting a separate app will be a challenge. Over the years, not every new Times app has succeeded. The publisher shut down two paid apps, NYT Opinion and NYT Now, which both launched in 2014, after they failed to attract a large audience.
Times executives say audio is a different experience that justifies being a separate app and is a way to expose subscribers to journalists who might not host their own podcast or appear on The Daily.
“We were able to go deeper into all these parts of the Times that have huge loyalty and start to work with people who are experts in their field,” said Paula Szuchman, the Times’ director of audio.
–With assistance from Ashley Carman.
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