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NY Times Shuts ‘International Herald Tribune’ Site Down

The New York Times is shuttering its International Herald Tribune site; NYTimes.com will soon host the international news normally reserved for its sister website.

The move is not about cost savings, but rather about growth, NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller insisted, writes Forbes.

By combining the content of the two sites and giving The New York Times site a more international bent, NYTimes.com will see increased traffic and more inventory in which to sell advertising. The move will also let the paper better capitalize on the approximately 18 percent to 20 percent of foreigners who visit the site, by selling more ads geared toward them.
NYTimes.com drew 19.4 million unique visitors in August, up from just under 8 million the previous year; IHT.com reached just 2.5 million unique visitors in August, according to comScore.

There has been no indication, at least for now, that the print edition of the Paris-based newspaper will follow the website’s footsteps and shut down.

The closing of IHT.com came on the same day the Times made a couple of changes in an effort to cut costs. The Sports section is now included at the end of the Business section, and Metro coverage is now included in the A section. The moves will not affect the amount of coverage of the two topics, according to the Times.