the seven-year-old New York Times R&D Lab acts as a tech startup of sorts inside the New York Times Co. With 20 staffers, the lab’s mix of crazy smart technologists, programmers, designers and business brains are charged with the Sisyphean task of developing tech innovations and new business models to help the struggling Times weather an uncertain future.
(A project called) Ricochet appears to hold the greatest marketing potential. The program allows brands to buy ad space around articles relevant to their messages that can be then distributed via a unique URL. The highly targeted program could potentially revolutionize now-imprecise ad exchange audience targeting.
Following the Times’ lead, the Washington Post Co. last fall launched WaPo Labs, which also focuses on emerging technologies. The Philadelphia Media Network, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, this year launched the Project Liberty Digital Incubator with a $250,000 grant from the Knight Foundation. Meanwhile, the incubator project infuriated members of the Newspaper Guild union, as it coincided with the March layoff of 19 staffers plus 21 buyouts.
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