VZ Verizon Communications Inc

By Lukas I. Alpert 

Verizon Communications Inc. is sponsoring a program to make the New York Times available free to potentially millions of high-school students as part of a deepening advertising partnership between the two companies.

The arrangement will grant free access to the Times site on computers at any of 12,000 schools in low-income areas around the country that elect to receive it, the companies said. That could reach as many as seven million students.

In the schools, the Times' site won't display advertising and won't collect data from its users, but will feature some kind of Verizon branding, noting that it is the sponsor, said Mark Thompson, president and chief executive of New York Times Co. The program will be available to schools for two years.

"We've got a heritage of trying to make the Times as useful as it can be to students, and this will include teaching tools that teachers can use in the classroom," Mr. Thompson said.

He said the Times won't count the program toward its overall subscriber totals, a measure that has been core to the media company's growth in recent years. The Times has set a target of 10 million total subscribers by 2025. It ended its last quarter with 4.7 million total subscriptions.

The companies declined to disclose the terms of the deal. It is part of a broad advertising relationship between Verizon and the Times which has in recent years moved to create more elaborate and lucrative ad deals that resemble corporate partnerships.

"It is the biggest single relationship we have with any commercial partner at the moment," Mr. Thompson said of the larger partnership with Verizon.

In addition to a multimillion-dollar ad buy, Verizon and the Times have already partnered on a research project looking at how best to adapt 5G networking and equipment for use in reporting.

Verizon said the partnership is an extension of its efforts to extend higher-speed broadband internet networks to schools in poorer and more rural areas of the country.

"Helping education is an area in which we are heavily invested," said Verizon Chief Executive Hans Vestberg. "This is how you advance social mobility and is very important to us."

He said Verizon intends to spend $400 million on such efforts over the next few years.

The Times has been betting big on subscriber growth as the overall advertising picture for media companies has eroded. Together, Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Facebook Inc. controlled 60% of the U.S. digital ad market last year, according to eMarketer Inc.

Mr. Thompson said while the program with Verizon wouldn't count toward its subscriber growth, it could pay dividends down the road as would help build brand awareness among younger audiences. Discounted student subscriptions and school programs have long been part of newspapers' efforts to establish lasting relationships with younger readers.

The Washington Post offers standard 50% discounts to university students and discounted bulk subscription packages for colleges and elementary schools. The Wall Street Journal also offers substantially discounted subscriptions to college students and low-cost, bulk packages for universities.

Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 26, 2019 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)

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