TimesSelect, CNN Pipeline Holding Open Houses; Philips Sponsors TimesSelect

Philips is sponsoring open access to nearly all of TimesSelect Nov. 6- 12, part of the consumer electronics company’s “Sense and Simplicty” campaign. The exception is the archive; a selection of free archive articles will be available but full access is reserved for TimesSelect subscribers. TimesSelect has more than 551,000 subscribers split roughly 65-35 between home-delivery subscribers and online-only subs. An annual subscription to TimesSelect runs $49.95. Philips already is spending a reported $1.5 million to sponsor access to WSJ.com and ESPN.com’s premium area on various dates through mid-December. The full Online Journal will be free next Friday, Nov. 10 9 ; access to front-page content will be free Dec. 15.
Meanwhile, CNN is offering free access to its Pipeline video service starting at midnight Sunday, keying off the heated midterm U.S. elections taking place Nov. 7. In addition to the pre-election day frenzy, the preview will include a slate of repeat election specials.
Open houses are good opportunities to draw new subs but these freebies can be a little tricky. For instance, our household subscribes to the print New York Times, which this week sent out notices that home delivery rates are being raised. The letter touts TimesSelect and access to the TimesRewards program as value-adds for print subscribers; then I find out my value-add is someone else’s free week. We also pay for the home and online WSJ, which means our subscription clock is still ticking when the site holds open houses or someone sponsors access to all. Personally, I think an open week for the site should be free for us, too; just tack on a week to our subscription.
Update: AdAge: More details about the Philips campaign. The TimesSelect portion includes animated ads; there’s a print-web package called “Simplify New York.” Nat Ives: “The Times never made its specific goals public, so it is impossible to say whether TimesSelect has met the paper’s own expectations. But the service has steadily grown.”
Related: Philips Will Foot Bill For Premium Access At WSJ, ESPN Sites

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