Our mission
Our mission at The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. Advertising — be it print or digital — supports this mission by helping to fund the quality, independent journalism that makes The Times a destination for curious news consumers around the globe.
Our commitment
The unrivaled strength and quality of Times journalism attracts a sizable audience that brands and individuals want to reach. We receive numerous requests every week from public and private interests to place ads in our newspaper, our podcasts, our website and within our apps. Our commitment to a quality news experience that supports our mission means we cannot and do not accept them all.
Our standard(s)
We aim to treat advertisers as fairly and openly as we treat our readers. We are open to all points of view, but we are not an open platform. This means maintaining a standard for advertising acceptance that is both industry leading and consistently applied. It also means setting a standard for ourselves: to not present our readers, viewers or listeners with ads that undermine our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.
Our principles
The Times’s standards are designed to keep our advertising space open to all points of view as a matter of public good. As an independent news organization, we aim to share deeply reported journalism alongside ideas and opinions across political, societal and cultural views in order to stimulate public discourse and understanding.
The Times’s Advertising Acceptability Department reserves the right to review ads against established principles designed to ensure our standards are consistently met and applied.
The Times retains the right to decline an advertisement offered to us if it violates our principles, our Advertising Acceptability guidelines, or if we determine that there is a separate reason for us to do so. We require two or more business days to review all advertisements. Given the volume of ads reviewed, we do not offer creative revisions for ads that do not meet our standards, nor are we able to provide a detailed explanation when ads are declined.
These principles are included below:
- We aim to keep The Times’s advertising space open to all points of view.
- We aim to measure every ad on its own merits.
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We aim to keep out ads that do any of the following from Times advertising space:
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Are deemed to be intentionally misleading, inaccurate or fraudulent. This may include but is not limited to:
- Ads that hide the identity of their source(s), i.e., “blind ads”
- Ads that advance baseless claims and/or conspiracies
- Ads that include inference, mistruths or unverified statements
- Promote or are funded by the use or sale of substances, services or products that are illicit, unregulated or cause immediate bodily harm;
- Contain inappropriate content, e.g., language, violence, sexual matter or ad hominem attacks; including ads that link to to violent, disturbing or sexually explicit content.
- Have the potential to directly incite violence;
- May be gratuitously offensive on the grounds of race, religion, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation;
- Contain editorial sponsored or submitted by state-run media organizations;
- Mimic The Times’s style or content.
- All print advertisements must include a legible disclosure on the top and bottom of the ad.
News Events
Advertisers often use our ads to advocate for or against issues linked to current news events. Given the nature of these events and the ever-evolving nature of the news cycle, The Times reserves the right to an extended review timeline and additional scrutiny regardless of advertiser deadlines.
Fact checks
As an independent news organization dedicated to the free exchange of ideas and fact-based debate, we receive ad requests from groups or individuals advocating on behalf of specific issues or causes. These ads may be subject to the following fact-checking requirements.
- Advertisers may be required to provide evidence to support an ad’s claims.
- If a claim made in the ad is found to be deceptive, inaccurate or wrong, we ask the source of the ad to remove or amend the claim.
- If the source of the ad refuses to remove or amend the claim in a way that meets our standards, we will not accept or publish the ad.
Ads and editorial
The Times maintains a clear separation between our journalism and advertising that appears on our pages, our podcasts or within our apps. Ads that include elements resembling editorial content may be held to specific standards, may require changes and may not be accepted. Additionally, The Times reserves the right to label an advertisement as needed to make clear the distinction between advertising and our journalism.
Moreover, the newsroom does not have a say in the advertising department decisions, and the advertising department does not have a say in or have any influence over newsroom decisions. While newsroom and advertising employees may properly confer on matters such as the layout of the paper or timing of special sections, the departments operate independently with the clear understanding that neither will try to influence the other.
Third-party and legal considerations
All third-party tags (creative serving, impression/click tracking and verification) must be a current Media Ratings Council (MRC) Accredited Internet Service. All third-party tags (creative serving, impression/click tracking and verification) and accompanying technologies being served by the tags must be SSL Compliant (HTTPS).
In addition, an advertisement may be declined because of the applicability of laws dealing with such matters as libel, copyright and trademark, the right to privacy, the sale of securities, political advertising and products that are prohibited by federal or state laws.
Additional Digital Display Guidelines & Requirements
- All digital advertising should include the brand's logo at some point within the ad experience. For animating digital display ads the final frame must include the brand logo.
- To protect both the user experience and ad performance, there is a maximum limit of 3 pixels per creative. All pixels outside of standard 3rd Party impression tracking must be disclosed prior to campaign launch.
- All Flex Frames are produced by NYT with client-supplied materials unless specified and agreed elsewhere.
- All 3rd party tags (creative serving and tracking-only) and accompanying technologies being served by the tags must be SSL (HTTPS) and Safeframe Compliant.
- -All units need to be built in HTML5, JPG, or GIF. Flash is no longer supported by The New York Times.
- All sound in ads must be click-initiated.
- All ads with a white background require a #CCCCCC border.
- Max of 3 individual creatives in rotation at one time, unless otherwise specified for a particular placement.
- Max of 1 code change per week, unless otherwise specified.
- Submit all 3rd party creative tags to your Campaign Manager and adops@nytimes.com 5 days prior to campaign launch.
- Tags should be sent as .txt or in a spreadsheet document. Do not supply tags in .rtf or in the body of an email.
- All assets must be delivered 10-15 business days in advance.
- FlexXL formats with full-bleed video must be user-initiated click-to-play.
Note:
Note:
If a digital display creative doesn't conform to NYT's performance or reliability standards and/or is generating complaints from our readers due to functionality or content, we reserve the right to pause or stop the campaign for internal review and discussion with the Advertiser to determine the next steps.
Prohibited:
• The New York Times does not permit overlay or pushdown/expandable formats.
• Flash content and Flash fallback (SWFs and FLVs) are not accepted.
• Flash cookies, HTML5 storage, or any forms of Locally Stored.
• Objects on users’ computers or technology devices.
• Redirects (only direct requests can be made).