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The New York Times launching mobile ad content, 'Mobile Moments'

The New York Times today announced plans to launch a new type of mobile advertising this fall that will focus on key moments of a user's day when Times journalism is particularly helpful in keeping readers "informed and inspired."

August 4, 2015

The New York Times today announced plans to launch a new type of mobile advertising this fall that will focus on key moments of a user's day when Times journalism is particularly helpful in keeping readers "informed and inspired." The ad solution, called Mobile Moments, will feature targeted short stories called Screenplays that will be created by T Brand Studio, The Times's commercial content group.

Available on The Times's core smartphone apps and the mobile Web, the media company said its Mobile Moments are designed to be more integrated in the reader experience and more relevant to time of day.

According to the announcement, Mobile Moments was inspired by The Times's recent advances in engaging readers with moment-driven, personalized journalism. Based on findings from research conducted with mobile users, The Times identified specific moments throughout the day when mobile users are looking for particular types of content. For example, The Times's Morning Briefing, a daily tip sheet that prepares readers for the day ahead, has become one of the most popular features on the company's mobile apps. Similarly, The Times created one-sentence stories for Apple Watch, a collection of content that gives readers what they need to know in less than a minute.

"Mobile Moments is the first phase of a long-term mobile native advertising solution that will continue to evolve. Based on the success our newsroom has had with moment-based targeting for its journalism, the commercial side of our organization has adopted similar tools, templates and insights and tailored them to suit our advertisers' needs," said Sebastian Tomich, senior vice president, advertising and innovation, The New York Times. "Our solution is three-fold: present bigger, better and more dynamic mobile creative; provide context for the mobile creative (where there is no adjacency); and tailor the mobile creative to the readers' needs."

At launch, content for Mobile Moments can utilize a brand's creative or can be custom-built by T Brand Studio. According to The Times, the creative — which can take the form of a graphic, video, interactive or swipeable series of short stories— is designed to be responsive and dynamic and changes based on time of day.