How to play the long game, with New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien

23 snips

Mar 23, 2023

Meredith Kopit Levien, CEO of The New York Times, leads the conversation on the evolution of this iconic institution, which has shifted to a subscription model, resembling services like Netflix. She discusses the success of NYT Cooking and Games, and the strategic acquisition of Wordle. The dialogue explores reaching diverse audiences in a polarized climate, the importance of direct relationships with readers, and the challenges of innovation in journalism and technology. Kopit Levien emphasizes maintaining journalistic integrity while fostering a thriving digital landscape.

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ANECDOTE

Journey to CEO

Meredith Kopit Levien joined the Times in 2013 as head of advertising.
Her journey to CEO involved increasing responsibilities on the business side.

INSIGHT

Times' Structure

The New York Times has a unique structure designed to protect journalistic integrity.
The newsroom operates independently from the CEO, reporting to the chairman and publisher.

INSIGHT

Conversion Focus

The Times focuses on converting its large audience of 50-100 million weekly visitors into subscribers.
Their strategy involves engaging users with various content types like games, recipes, and news.

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Meredith Kopit Levien is the CEO of The New York Times, which is perhaps the most famous journalism organization in the world, and certainly one of America’s most complicated companies.

The Times is 172 years old, and has only recently become a force on the internet. It’s hard to remember, but back in 2014 and ‘15, people thought the Times was doomed — that it would be replaced by BuzzFeed and Vice and Vox. Instead, the company has undergone a radical and sometimes painful public transformation, and emerged as something closer to Netflix or Spotify – a subscription business with a huge investment in product and engineering.

Meredith has led a lot of that change, and in particular, she’s led the charge in turning a Times subscription into much more than paying for news – NYT Cooking and Games are hit apps, and of course she bought Wordle last year in a bit of a coup.

We talked about that structure, how Meredith intends to appeal to a broader audience with all those products when the country is basically divided in half politically and one half doesn’t care for the Times at all, and about platforms and growth. And like all media organizations, the Times has a complex relationship with Google, so we talked about that, too.

Links:

Our Strategy | The New York Times Company

NYT CEO outlines plans to reach 15 million subscribers by 2027

Why the New York Times is buying the Athletic

Wordle has been bought by The New York Times, will ‘initially’ remain free for everyone to play

The Economics at the Heart of the Times Union Standoff

'Unstoppable innovator': The meteoric rise of Meredith Kopit Levien, the next New York Times CEO

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/23416720

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Hadley Robinson and it was edited by Amanda Rose Smith

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan.

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