Research Director, Audience Insights, Content Insights

The posting, as The New York Times wrote it

The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That means independent journalism is at the heart of all we do as a company. It’s why we have a world-renowned newsroom that sends journalists to report on the ground from nearly 160 countries. It’s why we focus deeply on how our readers will experience our journalism, from print to audio to a world-class digital and app destination. And it’s why our business strategy centers on making journalism so good that it’s worth paying for.

About the Role, Mission or Department Overview

The Research Director, Content Insights will have a critical role informing the creation, iteration and measurement of video and video products at the New York Times. You will lead all video measurement research to inform our understanding of how video content performs across platforms, surfaces, and audience segments. You will oversee the end-to-end measurement of video effectiveness, from individual videos to longer-form recurring concepts, and translate data into relevant strategies that inform production, distribution, and editorial decisions. You will also work with product, design, and editorial teams to improve on-platform video experiences.

You will report to the Managing Director, News Products on the Audience Insights Team and will collaborate with partners across the Newsroom. You understand how to blend market research and user research methods and practices into actionable insights for an entire mission.

This is a hybrid role based in our New York City headquarters. You can typically expect to come into the office 3 days per week.

Responsibilities

• Develop audience research to support the creation and growth of video franchises and recurring shows. Drawing on research methods used by production studios and streaming networks, you'll conduct research that can inform greenlight decisions — including concept testing, pilot testing, audience appetite studies, and competitive landscape analysis.
• Partner with video leadership to evaluate whether a format, host, or editorial premise has the demand to sustain an audience over time. For existing shows, help build longitudinal tracking that monitors audience health: loyalty, satisfaction, and reasons for churn.
• Help build a video performance tracking program grounded in survey-based measurement, tracking metrics like awareness, recall, engagement, and sentiment among defined audience segments over time.
• Working alongside analytics teams, you'll help establish benchmarks, monitor performance across all surfaces where video is published (owned and operated, social, streaming), and develop a consistent cadence of reporting that gives editorial, product, and business stakeholders a reliable read on how our videos are landing with audiences.
• Lead quantitative and qualitative research among target audiences to support video strategy and format development (e.g., format preference studies, thumbnail and title c

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ation. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

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