Times: in Starbucks from Tuesday
Two new fronts opened up this week in the increasingly hard-fought battle for upmarket newspaper readers.
Times Newspapers has signed a deal to have its titles sold in 311 Starbucks coffee shops throughout the country.
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And The Daily Telegraph has formed a partnership with The New York Times to carry a weekly version of the US paper as an insert on Thursdays.
The Times Newspapers deal takes effect from Tuesday and is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK. It is being used to help drive up sales of the tabloid Times, which was launched in November following the launch of the compact Independent in September.
While The Independent has since recorded double-figure percentage year-on-year rises, The Times has remained in modest year-on-year decline.
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From Monday to Friday, the tabloid Times will be the only paper available for sale to Starbucks customers. At weekends they will be able to buy the Saturday broadsheet Times and The Sunday Times.
Times Newspapers promotions director Katie Vanneck said: “There is a natural fit between coffee and newspapers.
This is a creative marketing partnership that will bring considerable benefits to both parties. Times Newspapers is always looking for new routes to market and Starbucks provides us with premium space in its stores throughout the country.”
No money has exchanged hands between the two companies and the Starbucks stores will act in the same way as any other newspaper outlet.
The Daily Telegraph’s deal with The New York Times enables it to carry a weekly eight-page broadsheet supplement from the US paper on Thursdays.
The Telegraph was approached by The New York Times as part of the US paper’s bid to create a new Europewide advertising platform, which also includes sister title the International Herald Tribune. French newspaper Le Monde is distributing a similar supplement on Saturdays.
The Telegraph supplement, called The New York Times International Weekly, includes stories about world trends, Americana, money and business, science, technology, style and culture.
An editorial committee that includes Daily Telegraph managing editor Sue Ryan and a lead editor from The New York Times will decide on the content.
Cristian Edwards, president of New York Times syndication sales, said: “Year after year, The Daily Telegraph reaches the globally aware, culturally active, business-involved readers of the UK and we are very pleased to be taking The New York Times’s journalism to this audience. Our shared commitment to the ideals of sound journalism and the importance of a free press makes our titles well matched.”
The supplement launched this week and is initially limited to London and the South East.
By Dominic Ponsford
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