In a bid to boost its digital revenue, the Los Angeles Times has struck
a deal with Arkadium, a major online game developer, to add more than
two dozen games to that section of its website.

This will add diversions like Mahjongg Dimensions, complete with
Twitter and Facebook integrated, to a vertical of the site that already
includes activities such as Crossword puzzles and Sudoku.

The audience of the Times’ site has grown substantially this year,
reaching more than 17 million unique visitors a month. However, for many
newspapers, the problem at the moment is that even increases in online
traffic have not let to increases in advertising revenue.

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Whether games are an effective method of changing that remains unclear,
but this deal is a small step in trying to widen the digital revenue
stream.

“Given the ever-rising popularity of casual games, adding Arkadium’s
titles allows us to further engage latimes.com’s users and entice
previously untapped gaming enthusiasts to visit our site throughout the
day,” Jennifer Collins, the Times’ Vice President for Digital Revenue
Products, said in a statement. “We are also creating a previously
unavailable opportunity for our advertisers to reach Southern
California’s casual gaming audience and in the process establish another
digital monetization platform.”

Collins statement makes the two motives quite clear — that these games
bring more users each day, and that those customers stick around and
get sucked in by advertisements.

The Times hired Collins in late November as part of an overhaul of its
digital revenue team. Both she and Andrea Nunn were hired while three
other employees were promoted to either fill new spots or replace
individuals who left.

At the time, John O’Loughlin, the Times’ chief revenue officer and
executive vice president for advertising sales indicated that the Times
was looking for new methods to court advertisers on mobile, social and
other platforms.