NYT says it will stop using third-party data to target ads in 2021, building a first-party data platform instead, starting with 45 proprietary audience segments
Sara Fischer / Axios : Tweets: @donie , @antoniogm , @zackkanter , @antoniogm , @pilhofer , @freedomofpress , @tealtan , @_ram_ , @jimpethokoukis , @auren , @girlsreallyrule , @nicdawes , @daviduberti , @beth_kindig , @antoniogm , @sandofsky , @matthewstoller , and @myurow Tweets: Donie O'Sullivan / @donie : Third-party data, which is collected from consumers on other websites, is being phased out of the ad ecosystem because it's not considered privacy-friendly. https://www.axios.com/... @antoniogm : HAHAHAHA Let me translate. Due to GDPR penalizing third-party data, and due to the advantages granted thereby to large first-party repositories of data, the NYT is *precisely* emulating FB and becoming a data collector (but with worse privacy probably). https://www.axios.com/... Zack Kanter / @zackkanter : Wow. Adtech giant NYT ($800m ARR, $6B valuation) to begin selling user data directly to advertisers. Scary, anticompetitive trend led by corporate journalism - local news outlets just can't compete with closed tech platforms like this. https://www.axios.com/... @antoniogm : What's this mean in practice? It means there will be a menu of segments (based on your data) for “Young Influencers” and “Suburban Affluents” or whatever BS their PMM cooks up. But since the NYT allows 3rd-party ad serving, it'll all leak and be used elsewhere too. https://twitter.com/... Aron Pilhofer / @pilhofer : Interesting, but not sure it's exclamation point-worthy. Also worth noting: The NYT has removed FB tracking pixels, but Twitter remains, as do dozens of others. This is not going to be easy, in other words. https://twitter.com/... @freedomofpress : The New York Times will stop using third parties to collect reader data for advertisers. A small step in the right direction towards a more privacy-friendly news environment https://www.axios.com/... Allen Tan / @tealtan : *whispers* this is a great and long overdue move, I only wish that it didn't take GDPR / ad-blockers to force this move by publishers https://www.axios.com/... Ram Parameswaran / @_ram_ : Just unsubscribed from the $NYT. What is the point of the subscriber fee I'm paying if not for privacy? A bit of double dipping going on here.... https://twitter.com/... James Pethokoukis / @jimpethokoukis : More late stage capitalism. Sad. https://twitter.com/... @auren : all news organizations are becoming data companies. and all data companies (like Bloomberg) are becoming news organizations. https://twitter.com/... Amee Vanderpool / @girlsreallyrule : The New York Times will no longer use 3rd-party data to target ads come 2021 and it is building out a proprietary first-party data platform that will force them to rely on data that they collect directly from their users. YOUR DATA. https://www.axios.com/... Nicholas Dawes / @nicdawes : A huge step, but not easily generalized from: “This can only work because we have 6 million subscribers and millions more registered users that we can identify and because we have a breadth of content”. Smaller outlets will need a different road to liberation from awful ad-tech. https://twitter.com/... David Uberti / @daviduberti : The NYT is nixing third-party data to target ads out of privacy concerns. Interesting and new slice of media haves vs. have nots https://www.axios.com/... via @sarafischer https://twitter.com/... Beth Kindig / @beth_kindig : I can't get enough of watching the ad-tech market evolve. $GOOGL and $AMZN up for anti-trust (again), $FB days are numbered on the browser and maybe mobile OSs and now $NYT does this .. https://www.axios.com/... https://www.axios.com/... Antonio Garca Martnez / @antoniogm : Damn it! I'm being out-snarked on the ad tech front. https://twitter.com/... Ben Sandofsky / @sandofsky : The New York Times will stop using third party data about users for ad targeting. Hooray! Instead it will use its *own* data to create a creepy profile about you. 45 categories to start, 30 more on their way. Kind of misses the forest for the trees? https://www.axios.com/... Matt Stoller / @matthewstoller : Again, more incoherence due to the privacy frame. There's nothing wrong with a publisher collecting data on its audience and targeting them. The New York Times has a direct relationship with its audience. https://twitter.com/... Mat Yurow / @myurow : Good on The Times for leaning into the future. Takes courage and focus to rip the bandaid in the midst of a cratering ad market. Many others would simply try to stop the bleeding. NYT's commitment to consumer revenue affords them this luxury. https://www.axios.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The move caps a deliberate arc at the Times: months earlier it ran an experiment buying targeted ads against 16 profile attributes to show readers what advertisers inferred about them, priming the privacy argument for abandoning third-party data. The description ties the decision directly to GDPR penalizing third-party collection, making compliance a competitive weapon rather than a cost.
It also fits the paper's broader strategy of owning the reader relationship — a month after this announcement it pulled stories from Apple News, saying the service didn't align with building direct ties to paying subscribers (the Apple News exit), and its later coverage of how Apple's ATT changes fueled a junk-ad epidemic shows where the ad ecosystem it is opting out of headed.
First-order effects
- Advertisers on the NYT lose access to off-site behavioral profiles from 2021 and must target through 45 proprietary audience segments built on the paper's own subscriber and reading data.
- The Times' ad sales pitch shifts from reach across the open web to quality of known, paying audiences — pricing power moves to whoever owns the identity graph.
Second-order effects
- Rival publishers face pressure to match the first-party playbook or keep selling commodity third-party targeting as GDPR enforcement and privacy backlash erode its value, bifurcating news ad inventory.
- Adtech intermediaries whose value depends on reselling cross-site data lose one of the highest-quality publishers from their supply chain, accelerating the shift of budgets toward platforms like Google, Amazon, and TikTok.
Third-order effects
- If regulation keeps tightening and browsers/platforms keep restricting tracking, news publishing consolidates around brands with direct subscription relationships, while the open-web ad stack built on third-party cookies shrinks.
- The pattern points toward reader data ownership becoming a regulatory-aligned moat — the same dynamic playing out as Australian and French regulators force tech companies to pay publishers for content.
The trend: Publishers are converting privacy regulation from a threat into a moat by replacing rented third-party data with proprietary first-party audience assets.