The New York Times unveiled its Bay Area Report last Friday, a two-page spread of local news designed to raise readership numbers and test the advertising market in San Francisco. The new section, boasting the logo: 'The world and the Bay Area. You'll find it all in the New York Times,' was announced last week and will now be published every Friday and Sunday. The spread is expected to pave the way for an entire San Francisco edition later in the year.

The Bay Area Report's debut coverage included three key stories: a profile of Oakland's new police chief; a story on tax property assesment and a piece on local restaurant wine lists.

The stories and columns appearing in the section will also be available online at NYTimes.com where the Times will also introduce a complimetry blog called 'The Bay Area,' designed to build on the print pages by offering a space for conversation about the top stories of interest to people in the region.

Scott Heekin-Canedy, Times president and general manager, told paidContent in an interview that the expansion was a way to ensure the vitality of the paper and to 'make the print edition more valuable to subscribers and possibly convert some single-copy buyers': "In doing this, we have reason to believe that it will strengthen our subscriber retention, perhaps result in a little bit of circulation growth, but we don't have big ambitions there," he said. "By itself, it's not going to be a reason to purchase the Times or subscribe to the Times."

Rather, Heekin-Canedy says the Times has always contemplated adding coverage to various editions as part of improving the publication as a whole, but it wasn't until recently that the timing and opportunity matched. Given that the Times now sells more papers in San Francisco than anywhere else outside the Northeast (40, 080 daily) and already has a 10 person newsroom set up there- it seemed a good place to start. "That was helpful with regard to the timetable we had in mind for launching. We have the newsroom staff resources in the Bay Area to jumpstart this," said Heekin-Canedy.

As to how the extra pages will be paid for, Heekin-Canedy told paidContent that he expected local advertisers to cover the costs. The Bay Area Report is part of a wider experiment to see how efficiently the Times can sell local advertising, should they decide to introduce new editions, Heekin-Canedy said. Friday's copy showed signs of a healthy future, with a full-colour, half-page advertisement for local retailer Limn Furniture.

The rapid launch puts the Times ahead of its rival, The Wall Street Journal, which had confirmed similar plans for a local San Fransisco edition. Both publications are competing for space in the market left by the San Fransisco Chronical, which is it facing financial challenges.

Despite the entrance of the big names, editor of the Chronical, Ward Bushee, said he does not feel threatened : "They have 10 people covering a very large, competitive area. We have a full staff much larger than that covering the area. All it means to us is that there is a lot more competition, which is a good thing. I welcome it. "

Bushee said that his circulation department estimates 57% of Times readers in the Bay Area also buy the Chronicle and does not believe the Chronicle will lose many of them : "I don't see that changing with a few days of coverage by the Times."

To download a full copy of the first Bay Area Report, click here.

Source : paidContent, Editor & Publisher, Neiman Journalism Lab