New York Times Rewards Program Misses the Mark

The New York Times last week announced its new rewards program, TimesPoints.  Like all daily papers, the Times is struggling to acquire and retain subscribers and single-copy readers.

In TimesPoints, participants earn points by patronizing thousands of restaurants, hotels and online stores. They redeem points for dollars off NYT subscriptions and gift cards at major merchants.

Two experienced companies, Advantex and Rewards Network, provide the infrastructure, and require only the simple step of registering one or more credit cards to enroll.

TimesPoints leaves me scratching my head for three reasons:

1. Value proposition seems backwards.  TimesPoints would be more compelling if participants earned points by subscribing and redeemed them for exciting dining, shopping and hotel experiences, not the other way around.

2. Doesn’t seem to boost loyalty to NYT.  Non-readers of the NYT can enroll, and they may redeem points for non-NYT prizes, so where’s the benefit to the NYT?  TimesPoints also fails to motivate the behaviors the NYT should value most – subscribing, renewing, referring friends, buying archived articles, photos, merchandise, etc.

TimesPoints does get a few things right, though.  Telling participants they can earn points by doing the things they already do is a welcome message.   And because the NYT is costly ($465 and up per year), it might appeal to a small number of readers for whom saving money on the NYT is more compelling than vacationing and dining out.

The economics of TimesPoints, in which the restaurants and hotels seem to fund the subscription discounts, are almost certainly favorable to the NYT.

Comments

[sergio amati]

The program looks very interesting to me. Do you know the results so far, mostly in terms of members enrolled?