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Gen-Z Opps Update: The New York Times taps marketing leader (Score 41)

Update: The Athletic. The NYT's strategy will shift under Ryan Howard's leadership, so keep the company on your radar.

Right now, the NYT is primarily targeting Gen-Z via paid social, streaming platforms and podcasts. It's also utilized localized OOH media in NY, GA, DC and IL, along with print media via newspapers. Read more details regarding the company's recent spend in the article below.

Agency & martech readers - This promotion could easily lead to roster shifts; keep an eye on the NYT for work down the road. Gretel and has in-house media and creative teams.

The article below was originally published on February 8:

Droga5, "Independent Journalism" will continue rolling out across TV, print, OOH, social, streaming platforms, podcasts and audio through mid-April, with more work to come later this year. The campaign is the NYT's largest OOH buy to date; it's running in the following cities: NY, Atlanta, DC and Chicago. Sellers should get in touch soon to secure last-minute ad dollars.

This campaign is the NYT's first-ever ad campaign that focuses on its readers rather than its reporters or products. It leans into the NYT's new subscription-first strategy, which it adopted after gaining more than 10m subscriptions. This happened in part thanks to the NYT's acquisition of The Athletic. The new work's message - that the NYT's readers are as independent as its media is - came at the right time since so many people are reevaluating their lives post-pandemic. 

Over the years, Droga5 has made pivotal work for the NYT; for example, in 2019, the agency's "The Truth is Worth It" is reportedly credited for raising the company's profile and improving its brand image.

Per iSpot, the newspaper allocated roughly $7.3m toward national TV commercials last year, down 24% from the roughly $9.6m it allocated in 2020. The NYT's 2021 commercials targeted millennials watching shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, Below Deck, South Park, Love It or List It and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

In 2021, Pathmatics reports the NYT spent approximately $64.2m on digital ads, 6% more than the approximately $60.6m it spent in 2020. The company ended up earning ~7.2b digital impressions last year via Facebook (71%), Instagram (19%), desktop video (4%), desktop display (4%) and Twitter (2%) ads. 

As you can tell, even though TV spend is dropping, digital spend shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. This, along with the NYT's reliance on paid social, streaming platforms and podcasts, leads me to believe it's primarily targeting Gen-Z. Since this new campaign includes OOH elements in NY, GA, DC and IL, I've tagged each of these regions to this article. According to Kantar data, the NYT also invests in print media via, shockingly I know, newspapers.

Agency & martech readers - The NYT doesn't currently show glaring signs of upcoming agency reviews, but you may have a shot at project-based work down the road. Along with longtime creative agency partner Droga5, the company works with media AOR Gretel. Winmo states the NYT also has in-house media and creative teams.