Friday, March 18, 2011

NY Times Junks Paywall For The Benefit Of An Advertiser: Lincoln

According to AdAge, The New York Times has worked a special deal with the Ford Motor Company, and such that Lincoln ads offer "Free, Unlimited Access to NYTimes.com." The value of the offer is reported to be around $150.

The new New York Times Digital Subscription System asks readers to pay $15 per month for total access to the news offerings at NYTimes.com. The announcement was panned on Twitterwhen the New York Times bought the promoted #hashtag #NYTimesOnline on Wednesday.

But if you go through Lincoln's new NYTImes ad, you don't have to pay anything at all.

Nat Ives of AdAge.com reports that the New York Times brought the idea to Ford and for the Lincoln luxury car brand. Lincoln's also sponsoring "parts" of the Times technology and design topics archives.

The question is will this open the flood gates for free-readers running around the NY Times webste? The Times is betting that will not happen, but I can't see how they can easily block it, really. Even if the ad period passes by, the links and code for free access can be saved and used again by a savvy web surfer.

Stay tuned.

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