New York Times Bets On Branded Videos, Virtual Reality

The New York Times kicked off the 2015 edition of the Digital Content Newfronts with a presentation that outlined its plans for the coming year. Among other projects, the Gray Lady touted the sponsored content it has created alongside brand partners, its slate of new and returning original web series, and its plans to expand into virtual reality through a partnership with VRSE.

With a multimedia approach that includes text, video, and “Snow Fall“-style combinations of the two, the New York Times can offer brands integrations that, according to CRO Meredith Kopit Levien, “apply times-style storytelling innovation” to “brand-driven” content. The Times plans to up the quality of these branded projects with a “Select” version of its T Brand Studio advertising team. It has enlisted five award-winning filmmakers for its Select team and plans to assign those filmmakers to work with brands on sponsored projects. “Brands can tell great stories if their backed by great storytellers,” said Sebastian Tomich, the Times’ SVP of Advertising.

Several of The New York Times’ new video series are also tied to brands. Microsoft has attached itself to Robotica, which will explore innovations in AI, while Deliotte will sponsor Corner Office, a series that profiles influential people. Other new series on The Gray Lady’s slate include Trials of Spring

, which will focus on the Arab Spring protests, and an animated companion to the publication’s Dealbook section that Dealbook founder Andrew Ross Sorkin termed “financial policy for dummies.” All of these new series will join more than a dozen current programs, including the award-winning Op-Docs, which will continue to showcase engaging short-form documentaries on a weekly basis.

The most forward-thinking of the Times’ upcoming projects, though, is its plan to expand into VR. Its partnership with VRSE resembles the Chris Milk-founded VR platform’s pact with Vice, which was announced in January. For VRSE’s first project alongside the Times, Milk directed a video that explains how the New York Times Magazine shot a recent perspective-defying cover. The video can be seen on the VRSE app, which is available on both iOS and Android.

With all of these projects, the Times’ is in the process of “reinventing” itself for the digital age. It is no longer just the paper of record, but also an expansive entertainment hub. As Levien put it, “no one tells stories like the New York Times.”