Reading about the latest new media efforts at Time Inc. is a lot like watching Lucy tee up a football for Charlie Brown and hoping against hope he’ll finally get to kick a long one. The Journal details the “newly aggressive effort” underway hinged in large measure of flagship Time‘s increased emphasis on original online content (particularly commentary), multimedia and the overall push to dissolve, once and for all, the operational barriers between print and online.
The key difference between now and the days of Pathfinder: Time really, really needs the web. It’s no longer about pioneering; it’s a matter of fiscal responsibility as advertising continues to shift online. Another difference: corporate recognition that keeping large chunks of content behind walls is less likely to work in this environment.
– The new CNNMoney.com is expected to turn a bigger profit than Money magazine.
– I may have missed this in the article but one change of significance is the way Time experimented with an ad-pass to see the “Person of the Year” cover and, after gauging its success, has continued the practice of making the cover story available in exchange for watching a brief ad. The link I just clicked was a house ad for Time’s cover gallery, which, in turn, included sales of framed covers, etc., — and came with a large AmEx/Time 100 promo plus several display ads.
Related: Time Inc. Tries “Day Pass” For Time’s “Person Of The Year”
– New CNNMoney.com Launches; Opens Up Time Inc’s Biz Sites
– Interview: Vivek Shah, GM, Fortune/Money Group, Time Warner
– ContentNext: Ned Desmond
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