Starbucks and The New York Times have announced plans to bring free news and content from the publication to the official Starbucks app in 2016. Top news stories of each day, as well as a selection of other articles will be made available for free via the app for My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members. Purchasing paid digital and print subscriptions with The New York Times will also bag you some "Stars".
This partnership expansion will be deployed alongside the 15 free articles per day on The New York Times website, as well as distribution to Starbucks across the US. The stars you can earn by purchasing services through Starbucks for the publication can be saved up and used for free food and drink. As touched on already, the expanded partnership will cover the Starbucks app next year.
SEATTLE, July 21, 2015 – Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ: SBUX) today announced an elevated digital news experience for the Starbucks mobile app, the result of an expanded relationship with The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) which publishes one of the most widely-read and authoritative news publications in the world. As part of the agreement, The New York Times top news of the day as well as a selection of other articles addressing key social, political and economic issues will be available for free via the Starbucks mobile app for the 10 million My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members. These customers will also have the opportunity to earn "Stars" through paid digital and print subscriptions to The New York Times.
"We see a future in which the Starbucks retail experience seamlessly extends to the mobile devices our millions of customers carry with them every day," said Howard Schultz, chairman and ceo of Starbucks. "Our relationship with The New York Times is the perfect example of bringing this vision to life. We have proudly sold millions of copies of the paper in Starbucks stores for more than a decade, and are excited to bring this experience to the next level by enabling Starbucks loyal customers to take the best of The New York Times with them wherever they go, whenever they want it."
Beginning in the first half of 2016, as part of this Starbucks digital news experience, the daily and weekend briefings from The New York Times will be delivered to My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members through the Starbucks mobile app as well as other relevant articles from The Times recommended by Starbucks. Additional articles recommended by Starbucks will come from other media sources over time.
Mark Thompson, president and CEO of The New York Times Company said, "We have enjoyed a long and fruitful association with Starbucks and we're delighted that this agreement will further extend our digital relationship. This is another in a series of arrangements we have made recently in order to ensure that The Times continue to expand the reach of our journalism to new and interesting pools of readers. We're particularly happy that Starbucks has also put in place an appealing incentive to turn these readers into subscribers."
Free digital access to 15 articles per day on NYTimes.com is already available in many U.S.-based Starbucks stores through the Starbucks Digital Network. The New York Times newspaper is also widely distributed in Starbucks stores across the country.
"This expanded relationship with The New York Times allows us to directly engage our most loyal customers with the latest and most relevant news of the day," added Kevin Johnson, president and coo of Starbucks. "Through these types of relationships, we are well on our journey to provide our most loyal customers with the opportunity to earn Stars everywhere and redeem them for food and beverages in Starbucks stores."
My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members will be able to "Earn Stars Everywhere," through both Starbucks and non-Starbucks purchases. Starbucks recently announced a multi-year deal with Spotify, which first introduced this new opportunity for Starbucks loyalty program members to earn Stars through purchases made with other companies. As part of today's announcement, My Starbucks Rewards customers will also earn Stars by purchasing paid digital and print subscriptions to The New York Times. Customers will then have the ability to redeem those earned Stars for food and beverages at participating Starbucks stores.
The agreement with The New York Times links more than 7,000 company-operated Starbucks stores in the U.S. with the 10 million My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members in a new and highly relevant way. Furthering its plan to build one of the most robust digital ecosystems of any retailer in the world, Starbucks continues to find new ways and platforms to engage and stay connected with its customers. Providing its most loyal customers with the most relevant news of the day from one of the most trusted news authorities, The New York Times, is one more way that Starbucks enriches its customer relationships with benefits that are meaningful and unique.
