Puzzle Wars 🧩

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The New York Times (NYT) is dominating the gaming business.

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In 2023, people played NYT puzzle games, Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections, and the crossword 8 billion times. More people spend time playing games on the NYT app than reading the news, per YipitData.

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Many media companies want to break into the puzzle market but haven’t found the same success. So, how did the NYT pull it off?

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In an interview with Axios, Jonathan Knight, NYT’s head of games, revealed their key differentiator: “We’re not trying to get you to spend 24/7 in our app; we’re not trying to get you addicted to solving level after level after level.”

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Put simply, they want to fit the game into your life rather than make it your life. So, many NYT Games users form a small habit of playing when they drink their morning coffee, during lunch break, or when they get home from work.

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The future for media is not so much games; although it is for the NYT, it’s just other revenue streams. Earlier this week, we looked at a new media business model from Hunterbrook that involves trading on the news and selling data for use in class-action and shareholder litigation lawsuits. Barstool Sports built a live events business called Rough N’ Rowdy.

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Instead of trying to take a bite out of the NYT puzzle monopoly, look for media companies to build products that overlap with the needs and interests of their audiences.