The New York Times’ Pivotal Is Driving ‘Many Millions’

The post-pandemic ad comeback is taking many guises. The New York Times is finding that ad clients are more likely to spend money on advertising around sensitive topics that previously were off-limits—like race, gender and climate—as long as they’re backed by data. That’s where the Times’ first-party data research arm, six-month-old Pivotal, comes in, informing ad campaigns and ultimately, driving more revenue for the publisher. Climate, race and technology The Times identified six content topics it knew would be important this year: climate, race, technology, gender, money and sex. Every few months, the three-person Pivotal team (plus, others from the wider company) collate responses from its subscriber base, interviews with its journalists and reader surveys. “We want to help brands be relevant when topics are changing weekly, monthly, all around the world,” said Sebastian Tomich, the Times' global head of advertising and marketing solutions. “Those topics can be sensitive where brands to date have been scared of. Now, there is more openness for brands, in general, to latch on to these topics. That was not the case a year ago.” While in-depth reader research is nothing new, the scope that publishers can offer—and the hunger that advertisers have for it—have been exacerbated. A lasting hallmark of the pandemic has been shortened sales cycles and increased flexibility. Publishers have been at the whim of advertisers holding budgets as they figure out how to respond to multiple unfolding crises. Under the dichotomy where publishers can’t monetize their highest traffic-driving news pages, the Times is trying to close the gap between what the reader is interested in and what marketers want to advertise next to. Everything in advertising is new business because everything moves so fast.Sebastian Tomich, The New York Times The media and marketing industry are riding on the tailwinds of a reinvigorated digital ad market. Digital publisher revenues for the last quarter of 2020 were up 13.1% versus the same period in 2019, according to a U.K. report from publisher trade body the Association of Online Publishers (AOP). This was largely driven by a 44% increase in subscriptions and 16.8% growth in display advertising. Publishers have been “constantly tackling fresh challenges and finding ways to safeguard revenue,” said AOP managing director Richard Reeves, adding their “hard work is clearly demonstrated by the strong performance.” This is felt across the board. One global magazine revenue chief who noted digital video ad revenues reached pre-pandemic levels in January said, “We were all surprised with how quick the rebound has been.” A small portfolio of lucrative projects Out of the Times' 3,000-plus advertising clients, only the top 10% will have the appetite and budget for turning Pivotal research into campaigns, making it a small portfolio of lucrative projects that add up to “many millions” over the course of the year, said Tomich. “This is not a skunkworks project sprung up to get a meeting with the CMO,” he said. To get advertisers more comfortable with certain categories, “we have to generate some of that demand, brand RFPs do not always cater to that.” Tomich points to the Times’ 1619 Project from 2019, which included articles, live events and a podcast centered on the country's history with slavery. “When we took that to market, that was a hard conversation for brands. There was a lot of caution, a lot didn't feel comfortable coming out and aligning with diversity if they weren't comfortable with their own efforts,” he said. As such, it wasn’t a big revenue driver. “If we had released that in 2021, we would have enormous demand," he added. "There would have been lines out the building of people looking to sponsor.” Gender as liberating rather than limiting The fourth topic focus of Pivotal's research, released in February, was gender. The publisher established brands should push and challenge restrictive roles and identities. The Times found 44% of its readers believe that gender is not binary, but exists along a continuum. It also found 74% of readers (compared with the general population score of 60%) believe gender inequality is a real issue in the U.S. Traffic to gender-tagged articles grew more than 54% from 2018 to 2020, the publisher said, adding that readers have high expectations for brands in this area. Climate will be a focus in the second half of the year, tying in with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November. These data points are made up of over 250 interviews with Times readers, consumers, experts and journalists, over 26,000 Americans and readers surveyed across the country and more than 100 hours of in-person and virtual interviews. The reports range in length, but take the form of an hour-long presentation for news and prospective clients. As a new business tool, it’s been pretty effective: After the initial sharing of data, 25% lead to follow-up business conversations. “Everything in advertising is new business because everything moves so fast,” Tomich added. The New York Times Creates Vertigo Effect for Instagram

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‘This Is Not a Skunkworks Project:’ Six Months in, The New York Times’ Pivotal Is Driving ‘Many Millions’

As the ad rebound continues, clients are more open to partnering on sensitive topics

Climate, race and technology

Lucinda Southern

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