The New York Times Company is looking to go international and it has invested more than US$50 million over the next three years to make this a reality.
The new international digital growth team will be known as NYT Global. Joe Kahn and Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, who led the recent International work stream, will head NYT Global. Kahn, as assistant masthead editor, International, will orchestrate editorial coverage and strategy together with the International Desk and other top newsroom editors. Dunbar-Johnson, as international president, will oversee business operations.
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., The Times’ publisher; Mark Thompson, its chief executive; and Dean Baquet, its executive editor, wrote in a memo to employees saying that “while our overall company aim is to double digital revenues by 2020, we are setting even more ambitious targets for our international growth.”
According to the company, international growth was identified as one of the top editorial and commercial priorities for the company and the company says it has “not come close to realising its potential to attract readers outside the home market.”
Every part of the company, the newsroom, product and technology, advertising and consumer marketing, and data and analytics, among others, will now need to “think creatively” about attracting and retaining a bigger non-American audience and growing revenue outside the US, read the memo. The company also plans to set up teams to pursue cross-market, pan-regional topics which will be appealing to readers and advertisers alike.
