NYT revamps online biz section

Nat Ives of Advertising Age writes Monday about the redesigned New York Times online business section, which debuted on Monday.

Ives writes, “The online section front has been rebuilt to more closely resemble a home page, complete with the top-left and top-right ‘rabbit ear’ ad units traditionally limited to the paper’s standard home page; an automated ‘latest news’ box on the top-right with stories from The Times and other sources such as Reuters and the Associated Press; a frequently updated river of news down the left column; a center column highlighting analysis; and Times blog posts wherever they may fit in the news or insight columns.

“The Times is also promoting the business section’s web presence with ads on sites such as Bloomberg, USA Today, Yahoo, MSN and Reuters that urge consumers to see ‘The new Business Day.’

“But the paper’s business coverage has already benefited from a series of hires bringing the number of reporters and editors to 85 from 78 a couple years ago, despite some buyouts along the way, according to Larry Ingrassia, business editor at The Times. Those figures exclude copy editors, whose numbers have been reduced by one or two, Mr. Ingrassia said. The paper’s overall newsroom headcount, meanwhile, has fallen to about 1,170 from 1,300 in January 2008, he said.”

Read more here.