New York Times Advertising partners with Magnite's DV+ platform for private marketplace mobile in-app deals as publisher's app audience doubles while CTR grows 19% year over year.
New York Times Advertising this week entered a strategic collaboration with Magnite that positions the independent supply-side platform as the preferred partner for private marketplace deals across the publisher's mobile in-app advertising inventory. The expanded relationship reflects the Times's accelerating investment in app-based content delivery, where audience size has doubled over the past two years while engagement metrics demonstrate significant advantages over traditional web-based advertising environments.
According to the announcement dated February 11, 2026, the collaboration enables advertisers to access the Times's premium mobile application inventory through Magnite's DV+ platform. The arrangement focuses exclusively on private marketplace transactions, providing brands with controlled access to the publisher's app-based audience through pre-negotiated terms rather than open programmatic auctions.
The strategic timing aligns with projections from EMARKETER indicating mobile in-app advertising will grow 24% by 2027. This growth trajectory reflects fundamental shifts in consumer behavior as audiences spend more time within premium app environments while AI-powered search features redirect traffic away from traditional web-based publisher sites. Advertisers have been redirecting budgets to mobile apps as these shifts accelerate, with 45% of respondents in recent research planning moderate or significant budget increases toward mobile in-app advertising.
The New York Times has executed a deliberate transformation of its mobile app strategy centered on video-forward content delivery and curated editorial panels. The publisher introduced a 'Watch' tab that emphasizes video content alongside a 'Lifestyle' panel organizing non-news editorial offerings. These product enhancements have contributed to the app audience doubling over the past two years, now reaching tens of millions of unique visitors weekly.
The app-focused strategy serves the Times's most valuable subscriber segment. Weekly app visitors represent the publisher's most loyal premium subscriber base, creating an attractive environment for advertisers seeking engaged audiences with demonstrated willingness to consume content within controlled mobile experiences.
Performance metrics demonstrate the commercial viability of the app-focused approach. Click-through rates across the Times's app inventory increased nearly 19% year over year, according to the announcement. This engagement premium positions mobile app placements favorably compared to web-based alternatives, where measurement challenges and declining organic search traffic have created uncertainty around long-term value propositions.
The Times added 460,000 digital subscribers in Q3 2025, bringing total subscribers to 12.33 million while digital advertising revenues surged 20.3% compared to the same period in 2024. The publisher attributed its advertising strength to compelling products in spaces with broad marketer appeal including sports, games, and shopping, combined with its large engaged audience that marketers can target effectively.
Magnite's selection as preferred private marketplace partner reflects both technical capabilities and market position within programmatic advertising infrastructure. The platform maintains 99% coverage of connected television supply according to independent analysis, positioning it as the dominant force in premium video advertising beyond traditional mobile in-app environments.
The DV+ platform offers over 3,000 direct integrations, with 95% classified as fully direct connections that minimize intermediary hops, improve transaction speed, and maximize revenue capture for publishers. Magnite merged its ad server with supply-side platform technology in April 2025, streamlining connections between publishers and advertisers by eliminating redundant supply chain steps.
For the Times specifically, Magnite's established relationships with programmatic buyers provide access to demand sources that prioritize premium inventory environments. Private marketplace deals offer advertisers controlled access to specific inventory at predetermined prices or bidding parameters, enabling campaign control while accessing curated audience segments without the transparency limitations that characterize open programmatic exchanges.
"We've built a world-class New York Times app where our audience moves seamlessly from news to lifestyle content and beyond, and we want to ensure that our advertising strategy reflects this dedication to premium," said Courtney Glaze, Vice President, Revenue Operations, at New York Times Advertising. "Magnite's strong relationships with highly respected programmatic buyers and their trusted technology that respects the mobile app experience make them an ideal collaborator as we connect advertisers with our readers in meaningful ways."
Ashley Wheeler, Senior Vice President, DV+ Platform at Magnite, positioned the collaboration within broader industry transformation driven by AI-powered search features. "The New York Times app offers the kind of premium, engaged environment that marketers are finding value in as the open web evolves due to the impacts of AI-driven search," Wheeler stated. "Together, we're offering buyers access to the Times's in-app ad inventory with the control and addressability they need to seamlessly reach their audiences in the moments that matter most."
The collaboration emerges as mobile app advertising has demonstrated superior engagement compared to social media channels across multiple verticals. Research from AppLovin published in September 2024 revealed that customers acquired through in-app advertisements show significantly higher engagement rates, with fintech customers opening apps an average of 9 times per month versus 5.8 times for those acquired through social media.
Mobile transactions continue expanding as a percentage of overall e-commerce activity. Nearly 50% of online transactions occurred on mobile devices in 2024, with projections indicating this figure will reach 62% by the end of 2025. This structural shift underscores the strategic importance for publishers like the Times to establish strong monetization frameworks within mobile app environments where audiences increasingly consume content.
The advertising technology infrastructure supporting mobile in-app monetization has matured significantly. Global app marketing spend reached $109 billion in 2025, with user acquisition accounting for $78 billion and remarketing contributing $31.3 billion. This investment level reflects advertiser recognition that mobile functions as the persistent home base orchestrating entire user journeys across verticals, even as consumers alternate between connected television, PC, and console platforms.
Magnite has established multiple mobile-focused infrastructure capabilities beyond traditional programmatic transactions. The company acquired streamr.ai in September 2025, bringing AI-powered tools that streamline creative generation and campaign setup for small and medium-sized businesses seeking connected television and video advertising access. The acquisition enabled Magnite to offer ecosystem partners working with SMB clients technology that generates video advertisements and launches them across platforms in under two minutes.
The Times's app-focused advertising strategy positions the publisher to capture value as traditional web-based monetization faces structural challenges. Google Web Search traffic to news publishers declined from 51% to 27% between 2023-2025 while Discover feed climbed to 68%, creating volatility for content creators dependent on search engine referrals.
Publishers have responded to these traffic shifts through multiple strategies including strengthening newsletter advertising, where spending surged 40% as brands sought alternatives to walled garden platforms, and developing premium app experiences with controlled access and superior engagement metrics compared to open web environments.
The private marketplace structure provides the Times with pricing control absent from open programmatic exchanges. Publishers using PMP deals can negotiate minimum pricing floors, audience targeting parameters, and creative specifications before making inventory available to buyers. This arrangement contrasts with open exchanges where publishers often face downward pricing pressure and limited transparency around which advertisers access their inventory.
Magnite's Q3 2025 results demonstrated 18% connected television growth reaching $75.8 million, with CEO Michael Barrett noting that agency spending showed nearly 20% growth year over year as holding companies accelerated their supply path optimization efforts. The agency marketplace momentum provides the Times with access to demand sources that prioritize premium inventory environments over remnant or made-for-advertising sites.
The collaboration also reflects publisher recognition that mobile app environments offer measurement advantages over web-based alternatives. App-based advertising enables granular tracking of user interactions, providing data that supports performance optimization and return on ad spend calculations. These measurement capabilities address advertiser concerns about transparency and verification that have plagued open web programmatic advertising.
For marketers, the Times-Magnite collaboration provides structured access to premium news inventory within mobile app environments characterized by high engagement and loyal audience demographics. The private marketplace structure enables campaign control and inventory guarantees unavailable through open programmatic channels, though likely at premium pricing compared to remnant inventory sources.
The arrangement signals the Times's confidence in app-based content consumption as a sustainable strategic direction. Doubling app audience over two years while maintaining subscription growth demonstrates the publisher's ability to drive intentional content discovery even as AI-powered search features reduce reliance on traditional search engine referrals.
Industry observers note that publishers with strong direct audience relationships through apps, newsletters, and subscription products maintain structural advantages as third-party cookie deprecation and privacy regulations reduce targeting capabilities across open web environments. The Times's investment in app features including video-forward content and curated lifestyle panels positions the publisher to capture advertising value from first-party data relationships rather than relying on third-party targeting infrastructure.
Magnite's role as preferred partner extends the company's strategy of establishing exclusive or preferred relationships with premium publishers across video and display inventory. The company launched Live Scheduler in November 2025 to help media owners and advertisers plan, activate, and measure ads around live streaming events, addressing operational challenges that have complicated live content monetization.
The collaboration also positions both companies to benefit from continued growth in programmatic guaranteed and private marketplace transactions. MediaLink research published in October 2025 sized the global market for brand-focused programmatic advertising in mobile apps, open web display, and connected television at approximately $18 billion in 2025, with projected annual growth of 13-15% through 2029.
Who: New York Times Advertising, the award-winning advertising team within The New York Times, and Magnite (NASDAQ: MGNI), the largest independent sell-side advertising company, announced an expanded collaboration. Key executives include Courtney Glaze, Vice President, Revenue Operations at New York Times Advertising, and Ashley Wheeler, Senior Vice President, DV+ Platform at Magnite.
What: The collaboration makes Magnite's DV+ the preferred platform for private marketplace deals for The New York Times's mobile in-app ad supply. The arrangement enables advertisers to connect with premium audiences across trusted in-app environments throughout the Times portfolio through private marketplace transactions offering control and addressability. The Times has doubled its app audience over the past two years and achieved nearly 19% year-over-year growth in click-through rates.
When: The collaboration was announced on February 11, 2026. The Times has been accelerating investment in app environments over the past two years, introducing new features including a video-forward 'Watch' tab and curated 'Lifestyle' panel. EMARKETER projects mobile in-app advertising will grow 24% by 2027.
Where: The collaboration provides access to The New York Times's mobile in-app ad supply across its portfolio, reaching tens of millions of unique weekly visitors who represent the publisher's most loyal premium subscriber base. Magnite operates globally with offices across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC, maintaining 99% coverage of the connected television supply market.
Why: The partnership addresses the evolving digital landscape where AI-powered search shifts publisher traffic to more intentional content discovery methods. Mobile in-app advertising demonstrates superior engagement compared to web-based alternatives, with the Times achieving 19% year-over-year CTR growth. The private marketplace structure provides advertisers with control and addressability while offering the Times premium monetization of its most engaged audience segment during a period when traditional web-based publisher revenue faces pressure from declining search referrals and AI-generated answer features.
