"New generations will never get exposed," he said. "We're working with thousands of sites with tons of video, but without a clear strategy of how to monetize."

Times’ fourth quarter revenues for online operations rose 42% from year to year. These still only account for 9% of the company’s total revenue, but that’s up from 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2005.

According to Ascheim though, the focus on monetization is not the priority at this time, rather "the strategy is to build an audience."

This puts into question online subscription models in general, but also Time’s own TimesSelect. The restricted portal generated about $6 million in revenue in just about a year and a half, and attracted 198,690 online subscribers. That’s about 37% of TimesSelect users – the remainder being paying print subscribers.

Yet now one of Times’ top executives is seriously putting into question this model and decision, with a view on the longer term and the necessity to build a new generation of readers.

He also revealed that Times readers will soon have the possibility to contribute user-generated content to NYTimes.com.

In any case, Times needs "more time to experiment," said Ascheim.

Source: Media Post