New York Times To Launch Experimental Division To Expand Its Programming

The New York Times is figuring out how to bring its brand of high-quality journalism to new platforms. At the first Newfronts presentation of 2016, the Grey Lady announced a new initiative called Story X, through which it will explore experimental ideas.

Story X, according to New York Times Chief Revenue Officer Meredith Kopit Levien, will be “a place and a space and a lab, and a team of journalists and creators and technologists who are dedicated” to innovative storytelling. Levien brought up augmented reality, Alexa, and connected cars as a few sample technologies the new unit could look into. The company noted that its efforts to expand into VR, which it discussed at its Newfronts presentation last year, could be thought of as a precursor to Story X.

The New York Times would just be betting on experimental technology. At the same time, it also used the Newfronts stage to discuss what it terms its biggest slate of original programming to date. The publication will premiere the following shows:

• The Fine Line, which will use the 2016 Summer Olympics as a platform to explore the athletic effort that separates gold medal winners from their competition.
• Out There,
• The Art of Better, whose subjects will be game-changing entrepreneurs.
• Voyages, the Times’ first original series for VR devices, which will follow its photographers as they head out on assignment.
• The Creators, a T Magazine production, which will look inside the homes and workspaces of artists.
• Secret Cities, another T Magazine series, which will uncover hidden culture in New York, London, Paris, and Milan during those cities’ respective Fashion Weeks.
• Chartland, which is based on the success of The Upshot.
• Two Tales of a City, in which a pair of travelers with vastly different budgets tackle the same city.

As it rolls out this content slate, the Times hopes to find eager advertisers to work with through its T Brand Studio unit. At its event, it said that T Brand Studio, now two-and-a-half years old, has produced 150 projects.