NYT Times expands digital platform

The New York Times said Monday it was expanding its digital news offerings to third-party platforms as part of a push for more online subscribers.

The "NYT Everywhere" will begin with Flipboard, a so-called social magazine which allows its users to flip through news from around the world.

Starting Thursday, iPad and iPhone users of Flipboard will be able to access full content from the New York Times.

It will be the first time that The Times has offered paid subscribers full access to its content off a Times platform. For Flipboard, it marks the first time readers can access premium content from a publisher within Flipboard.

"Following authentication by Flipboard, Times subscribers will have full access to all content including full articles, videos, photo slideshows and blogs," a joint statement said.

"By tapping on The New York Times logo, readers will be able to browse stories from various New York Times sections, everything from politics to business to style."

"With the launch of NYT Everywhere, with Flipboard, we are continuing our effort to extend the user-experience across a variety of platforms to reach readers where they want to access our journalism," said Denise Warren, general manager of NYTimes.com.

"We're excited to offer our subscribers the option of Flipboard's rich experience and also to bring our authoritative news, opinion and superior multimedia to a new audience of Flipboard users who may not yet be Times subscribers."

Flipboard chief executive Mike McCue said the move expands the offerings for the growing number of people using mobile devices.

"And it's more important than ever that great content be discoverable, beautiful and sustainable on these devices," he said.

Like other US newspapers, The New York Times has been struggling with declining print advertising revenue, falling circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.

The Times began charging in March 2011 for full access to NYTimes.com and it launched a subscription-only website for the Boston Globe in October.

Paid subscriptions to all of the company's digital packages, e-readers and replica editions totaled roughly 472,000 as of March 18.

(c) 2012 AFP