[Space For Sale] NYT Skimmer Carries NYT Ads

One of my favorite posts I’ve written about traditional media online was in respect to the launch of a desktop application by the New York Times called TimesReader. There was some talk back last year that part of the tool may involve eventual paid-access, using the application to simplify the registration/payment process. Of course, though, you can’t beat advertising capital that may come from the application.

NYTPicker pointed out this morning that the online cousin of this application – a late December launch available at Times Skimmer – is seeming to have a little bit of a problem gaining support. Based on their tests and reloads, the most common ad is…an ad for the Times promoting space it has available.

Maybe online advertisers are beginning to see things differently. They would want to advertise on the place where the online user experience is the best; a more engaged audience is likely to see ads and click, as conventional knowledge would suggest. As the inevitable pay walls go up, I have this gut feeling that advertisers may slow their publishing on sites that are behind them, knowing how it may prevent discovery/clicks if the audience isn’t new.