National Geographic Channel the First to Incorporate TimesMachine into its
“Killing Lincoln” Homepage Takeover
NEW YORK, February 13, 2013 – The New York Times (NYTimes.com) today announced the launch of a new custom advertising unit featuring its TimesMachine digital archive.
National Geographic Channel, along with media agency mediahub/Mullen, is the first company to utilize this New York Times product in their advertising. The campaign, which starts running today throughout NYTimes.com preceding a homepage takeover on February 16, is timed to the debut of the network’s first original factual drama, “Killing Lincoln,” which is based on Bill O’Reilly’s book of the same name, and airing Sunday, February 17 at 8 p.m. ET.
TimesMachine is a digital archive that displays 70 years of Times content via electronic pages with the look and feel of the original printed stories. The archive includes every issue from Volume 1, Number 1 of The New-York Daily Times, on September 18, 1851, through The New York Times of December 30, 1922.
National Geographic Channel’s custom unit is a half-page with overlay, featuring the front page of The New York Times from April 15, 1865, the day after Lincoln’s assassination, complete with the headline: “President Lincoln Shot by an Assassin.”
Within the ad unit, users can explore other front pages from that time period via TimesMachine, link to the complete TimesMachine on NYTimes.com, watch the trailer and explore behind-the-scenes footage from the film.
“National Geographic Channel’s ‘Killing Lincoln’ is an ideal companion to our TimesMachine product,” said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer, The New York Times Media Group and general manager, NYTimes.com. “The riveting front page story of Lincoln’s assassination from 1865 complements the film’s historic narrative, transporting readers back in time, all within an ad unit.”
“We are always looking for smart and innovative new marketing platforms to promote our programming,” said National Geographic Channel Chief Marketing Office Courteney Monroe. “With the premiere of our first original factual drama, The New York Times’s TimesMachine offered exactly the experience we were looking for to enhance this campaign.”
“We’ve all seen the research showing how it’s increasingly difficult to make an impact with standard banners in the digital space,” said Laurel Boyd, VP, Digital Media Director, mediahub/Mullen. “This unit gave us the opportunity to provide additional value to the consumer by enhancing our ad content with real news articles from the 1860s. We’re providing consumers with exclusive content in a contextually relevant environment, which makes our messaging much more powerful.”
About The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading global, multimedia news and information company with 2012 revenues of $2.0 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, NYTimes.com, BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com and related properties. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news and information.
About National Geographic Channel
Based at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Channels US are a joint venture between National Geographic and Fox Cable Networks. The Channels contribute to the National Geographic Society’s commitment to exploration, conservation and education with smart, innovative programming and profits that directly support its mission. Launched in January 2001, National Geographic Channel (NGC) celebrated its fifth anniversary with the debut of NGC HD. In 2010, the wildlife and natural history cable channel Nat Geo WILD was launched, and in 2011, the Spanish-language network Nat Geo Mundo was unveiled. The Channels have carriage with all of the nation’s major cable, telco and satellite television providers, with NGC currently available in 84 million U.S. homes. Globally, National Geographic Channel is available in 440 million homes in 171 countries and 38 languages. For more information, visit www.natgeotv.com.
Contact: Jordan Cohen, 212-556-7429, jordan.cohen@nytimes.com
