Open Chrome 'new tab' with a particular url

This just worked for me!

1. Create a Chrome extension (or you can use one that you've already coded).
2. Inside the manifest.json, include:

    "chrome_url_overrides": {
        "newtab": "newTabOverride.html"
    }

3. In the root folder of your extension, create a newTabOverride.html file that contains only this line: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=http://www.example.com/" />

_{(I followed instructions from @PredatorIWD's answer here; I don't know why it was deleted. Maybe because it doesn't leave the cursor in the URL field to allow for a Google search.)}

Also, you might want to just install an existing extension, if you trust it: https://github.com/jimschubert/NewTab-Redirect

There are some extensions for that. It's the easiest option, search with 'new tab override' keyword. Here's a random example from Chrome Store. Try it. Custom New Tab

If you don't want to rely on third part, I've also found manual instructions on Stack Overflow. Override the Chrome new tab page with a webpage?

And also small video for that extension to code with. Chrome Extensions: New Tab Override - Programming with Text