Extending the New York Times product family
CLIENT: New York Times
PROJECT: New York Times Events Website
SUCCESS METRICS:
2023 Webby Awards Honoree, Websites and Mobile Sites, Events
Sold out within the first week for the first event launched using the new site
Project Brief
Build a net-new site where users could discover all New York Times events in one place, from small-scale events based on breaking news to tentpole, repeating events like DealBook.
The Opportunity
The New York Times set the ambitious goal to have at least 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027. Because events like DealBook and the Food Festival bring in new audiences, the events site was an exciting opportunity to introduce Times-curious users to all the value of the whole Times ecosystem–bringing new potential subscribers into the pulse of the newsroom but also introducing them to products that add value to a New York Times subscription like NYTCooking.
How we solved it
Designing a flexible events page
We created an events page that accommodates both one-off events and repeating, franchise events with multiple sessions.
Because the events page needed to be updated for pre-event, during event, and post-event content, we made the content type extremely flexible. Pre-event, there might not be a lot of content–not even a “Get Tickets” button. But they still wanted to use the site to support sales to sponsors and to generate excitement, so we created components where they could feature positive press from past events as well as a CTA to sign up for updates.
Closer to the event’s launch, the editor could add components like Speakers and Agenda, as well as connecting the event to the ticketing flow on a third party platform.
After the event’s launch, individual sessions could be recorded and uploaded to the content library like a TED talk.
Creating an extensible system
Although we launched the site around a very specific tentpole event, the events content type needed to accommodate future events like DealBook, Climate Forward, and other event series the events team decided to create.
The site launched in 2022 and is still in use today.
