NYT Goes Gilt With Daily Deal Email, TimesLimited

March 2, 2011 | 7:24 a.m.
Who wants lunch with Thomas Friedman, 10% off the aphorisms.
Who wants lunch with Thomas Friedman, 10% off the aphorisms.

What better way for old media properties like the NY Times to beef up their bottom line than to jump on the bandwagon of daily deal sites that have been heating up the tech sector. 

Market leader Groupon recently closed a massive funding round and New York's Gilt Groupe was just reported have hit that magic $1 billion valuation. 

The NYT's offering, TimesLimited, seems closer to Gilt than Groupon. It lets advertising partners offer deals on a limited number of items for a brief window of time. 

This may start to emerge as part of the overall advertising package for publishers. In fact, local deal aggregator Yipit predicts publishers will dominate the daily deal space. 

TimesLimited is focused on lifestyle, travel, food and entertainment. Based on the web site, The Observer anticipates deals on lambshanks and a discount offer to fall off a very tilted boat.

bpopper [at] observer.com | @benpopper