NYT CEO Meredith Kopit Levien on Running a Media Brand in the Age of AI
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello and welcome to another episode of The Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Joe Wiesenthal.
And I'm Traci Allaway.
Traci, I think I've mentioned this story once or twice on the podcast. You know, I repeat things as I get older.
You repeat the lore.
I repeat the lore. There are new listeners who haven't heard it before. In 2009, when I was in Business Insider, my first sort of real journalism job, I got a call from someone. I don't remember who, but someone asked me, they're like, oh, would you be interested in coming in for an interview at Dealbook? Oh, yeah.
Just, you know, part of the New York Times.
And at the time... And at the time... I was just like, what? Why would I want to board the Titanic? You know, the stock was at $6 a share, old print media. I was like part of the internet, et cetera. I was like, no, I didn't. I was like, no, why would I want to do that? I like, I'm part of a new thing, you know?
I mean, I think this is a very old traditional media versus new media divide because around that time, I guess I would have been at the FT already and the New York Times kind of looms very large in print media to put it mildly.
So there are two things that I, when I think about that moment that really stand out and how different we are 17 years later or something like that. One is the New York Times was certainly not the Titanic and it's done extraordinarily well since then. You know, almost can't overstate how much it's reversed. But two, there's something else which I think is interesting, which is that maybe at the time, those of us sort of doing independent media, et cetera, like maybe it's like, oh, the goal is to reach a brand like
What motivated Meredith Kopit Levien to join The New York Times and how did the company evolve from a struggling newspaper to a digital media leader?
The New York Times, whereas these days, one of the things that arises is people who are at big platforms and publications like The New York Times might look and see how lucrative independent media is and be tempted to like, oh, do I need the label? Do I need the platform anymore? There's so I could make a ton of money on Substack or something like that.
Lots of spin outs of journalists going independent for sure. The other thing I was thinking of is just the melding of digital and print media, right? Because it feels like both sides look a lot more like each other than they used to. So you have the old school print publications that have gone big on digital, including games, video. podcasts, all that good stuff. And meanwhile, a lot of the independent writers, the bloggers are now known for producing very high quality content and journalism. So it's kind of like everyone's come together.
Yeah, this is a big fusion. Anyway, to understand contemporary media business, we have to understand the New York Times, clearly just like a huge winner, this melding of all different kinds of businesses under what at one point was, quote, a newspaper.
I'm just excited for the media navel gazer.
That's right. We love that. Anyway, I'm very excited to say we do, in fact, have the perfect guest. We're going to be speaking with Meredith Kopit-Levian. She is the president and CEO of The New York Times. She just reported earnings yesterday. We were recording this August 6th. Meredith, thank you so much for coming on Odd Lots.
I'm delighted to be here. Fan of the show. New fan, but fan of the show.
Thank you. Love to hear it. What is The New York Times? You know, because at one point someone would have said, oh, it's the newspaper. If someone says to you, what is The New York Times? What is it?
I think the New York Times is the essential service for curious people everywhere who want to understand and engage more deeply with and enjoy the world.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:20
2
What motivated Meredith Kopit Levien to join The New York Times and how did the company evolve from a struggling newspaper to a digital media leader?
2:20–19:39
3
What were the biggest challenges Meredith faced when she became CEO and how did she shift the business from defensive digital transformation to ambitious growth?
19:39–36:17
4
How does The Times define its brand promise across news, games, recipes, and sports and why does that matter for audience growth?
36:17–55:08
5
What is the strategy behind the bundle pricing model and how does The Times use data to move subscribers up the price curve?
55:08–1:01:49
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Odd Lots
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