According to Philip M. Stone of Follow the Media, Web site design has adapted to the various changes in Web metric criteria over the years.  For example, when page views became the ranking norm (instead of “hits”), newspapers began spreading their online articles over multiple pages to garner more clicks and thus, page views. 

Now, with “total minutes,” many newspaper Web sites may undergo changes to stay on top in the rankings.  Stone predicts a return to long articles on one page and a rise in Internet video as editors attempt to prolong average user times.  The addition of several one-to-two minute videos could potentially increase a site’s popularity on the new scales, especially if users had previously failed to spend more than a few minutes browsing headlines.

The scramble to catch up to the new Web metric may be justified, as the total time spent would change the most recent June rankings. The New York Times site would remain on top, but washingtonpost.com would take the second place spot from USA Today.  In addition, sites that have traditionally been shafted from the page view-based rankings, such as gaming or video sites, could make a more prominent appearance on the lists.

Source: Follow the Media