What the NYT’s Bay Area Report looks like in print

The New York Times today debuted its Bay Area Report, a two-page, twice-weekly spread of local news that it hopes will boost print circulation in San Francisco, already the paper’s largest market outside the Northeast. The accelerated launch puts the Times ahead of its rival, The Wall Street Journal, in their battle for national print dominance. The Journal said today that its version of a local edition for San Francisco will be out by year’s end.

In an interview with paidContent, Times president Scott Heekin-Canedy said he expects local advertising to pay for the pages. Today’s second page of the Bay Area Report (somewhat weirdly paginated A23B) includes a full-color, half-page ad for Limn Furniture, a high-end retailer based in California. The Bay Area Report’s success will depend on whether the Times can continue to secure that kind of advertising while improving circulation enough to justify the effort.

After the jump, read (or download) the spread that 40,080 subscribers received this morning in San Francisco and its environs. Keep reading »

Gray Lady couture: New York Times has a fashion hit

The top-selling item in The New York Times Store this summer was a set of rakish rain gear with a literal spin on journalistic transparency. Isaac Mizrahi, the clothing designer and reality-TV host known for democratizing couture, fashioned a see-through rain coat and umbrella for the Times, which offered the set for $99. (See photo at left.)

In his monthly memo to staff yesterday, Times president Scott Heekin-Canedy, channeling the Style section, called the ensemble “a summer sensation for The Times Store.” The umbrellas have sold out, and the rain coats (sold separately for $65) are in short supply, though I’m told more of both are on their way. The items were produced exclusively for the Times, but neither has the newspaper’s branding on it.

Though hot-selling merchandise will hardly cure the Times Co.’s cashflow woes, the collaboration with Mizrahi points to potential revenue streams for news organizations selling tangible, private goods. The Globe and Mail, in Toronto, sold out 500 spots on a luxury cruise with its journalists last year. And The Telegraph, in London, has found success selling items from tulips to panama hats. Obviously, newspaper stores aren’t just for framed reprints anymore, although Heekin-Canedy noted that a 40th-anniversary edition of the Times’ famous “Men Walk on Moon” front page, signed by Buzz Aldrin, was “one of the store’s most popular items” this summer, despite a $795 price tag.

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