The Times and Sunday Times (U.K.) is about to launch a “global edition” of its website homepage. Online editorial director Peter Bale
says the purpose of the page “is to project more of the world view …
as we have detected an increasing appetite for commentary and analysis,
particularly from readers overseas.”
For a newspaper like The Times,
overseas readership is a huge factor. Bale reports that the website
gets more than 3 million monthly unique readers in the U.S. alone.
The U.K. edition of the homepage will carry a slightly greater
proportion of domestically focused stories, but still will remain
strong on comment and opinion.
When the dual homepage system is turned on in the next few days,
readers will be able to switch back and forth. The site will use some
geo-targeting to offer overseas users the global homepage as the
default view.
