The New York Times (NYT) is a news company dedicated to keeping people up to date and informed about the world through in-depth, expert journalism. NYT Playlist is an audio-based experience within the existing mobile platform designed to allow people to consume news content at times that are convenient for them. I was responsible for conducting user research, copywriting, and facilitating a design sprint.
Note: At the time of writing this case study, The New York Times has since released a similar product called New York Times Audio.
In recent years, the NYT has successfully and steadily grown their number of digital subscriptions. However, this growth was largely driven by a promotional rate and when it came time to renew, many readers would unsubscribe.
Through secondary research and user interviews we found the primary reason for cancellation was because readers feel they didn't have time to read the news. Many would spend time in the morning to plan out their day and if reading the NYT was not included, they often wouldn’t. At most, they would skim headlines if they had five minutes to spare in the morning.
I just don’t have the time to sit and read a newspaper anymore without a long commute on public transportation.
We saw an opportunity to retain subscribers by providing a means to consume news content in ways that fit their busy schedules. We want to help occasional readers get the most out of their limited free time and news subscription. We asked ourselves, How might we help an occasional reader form a routine to integrate news consumption into their lives?
Introducing, New York Times Playlist. To maximize value for existing subscribers who struggle to make the time to read, we propose audio-based article playlists to enable news consumption at times that suit them.
Article playlists allow readers’ to integrate news content throughout their day—without having to allocate specific times to read. Progress tracking allows readers to pause and pick up where they left off when needed. During our design sprint, we noted that audio was an appealing medium as it allowed folks to squeeze into their daily activities.
If I have the time and am multi-tasking, I’ll listen to it instead of reading the whole thing.
For readers who like to plan out their schedules, pre-planned push notifications help them keep up with the news throughout the day.
5 out of 7 interviewees stated that their morning routine involved planning the day with a calendar.
Playlists will be created by a reader based off headlines that catch their interest. Self curation ensures that their limited time is spent on content that is important to them. However, they can also choose to have these populated with articles that may interest them.
One big takeaway from this project was learning how to frame a problem with consideration not only from the user’s perspective but from the business side as well. Realizing that the New York Times was excelling in subscription growth led us to questioning the long-term effects. Through significant research efforts a significant opportunity was discovered. It was validating to find out that the NYT provided a similar offering a few months after we had completed this project!
Another learning from this project is how we can identify a concept in one domain and translate it to another context to provide simple, but effective solution. One consideration for the future would be how the audio aspect can be implemented from the development side of the business.