New York Times Moves Toward Netflix Model as Ads Tumble

New York Times Co. Chief Executive Officer Mark Thompson is taking a cue from subscription services like Netflix Inc. in a bid to transform the publisher into an Internet company that relies less on advertising.

In an interview today, Thompson said the creation of new digital products and services was based in part on company research, which showed an appetite for lower-priced plans and specialized subscriptions for coverage of areas such as politics and technology. There are potential customers “numbering in the many hundreds of thousands,” he said.