As newspapers across the country struggle to be profitable, their survival will be dependent on being able to engage their readers anywhere they happen to be and turn that engagement into revenue. A report in yesterday’s MediaPost described how the New York Times is extending their crossword puzzle franchise online:
The New York Times has created a free variation of its popular online crossword puzzle called Classic Crossword Widget, available as a Google home page personalization feature.The widget will update each Monday with a rotating selection from the Times‘ Classic Crossword Archive of more than 1,000 puzzles and will introduce some enhanced functionality, including new ways to manipulate the individual puzzle cells to reveal letters.
There is no separate sponsor for the launch product, but a link under the word “advertisement” takes the user back to the banner advertisement/sponsorship that is currently running on the Games page section front of NYtimes.com, according to spokesperson Stacy Green.
“Our puzzles have a huge following,” said Vivian Schiller, senior vice president and general manager of NYTimes.com. “Now our crossword fans can engage with our puzzles right on their Google home page.”
Several of my fellow Renegades count on their daily dose of the Times crossword puzzle much the way I rely on my poor man’s mochaccino (coffee and hot chocolate from my coffee cart guy). A day without it seems incomplete. The pros, of course, only use pen and get through the Monday through Friday puzzles in rapid measure. I’m not sure yet how they will feel about the new widgetized version and if they will find a virtual quill quite as stimulating. Hopefully, they’ll let us know (Stef?)
For me, the widget is a nice compliment to my otherwise dutifully dull Google home page (though its starting to get a bit crowded what with the various news, sports and weather feeds). Given a few other daily distractions (like Renegade;-) I can’t guarantee I’ll be enjoying the puzzle all that often but it’s nice to know it’s there just in case I need a brain tease. As for the New York Times, I applaud this digital extension and hope it encourages numerous puzzle devotees to subscribe to the more robust puzzle offering online. Many of us take the Times for granted, a great institution that will always be there–without new revenue streams to offset declining newspaper readership, the Times as we know it and love it might not be there. As Bob Dylan put it, “the Times they are a changin’.”