#NY Times sees gains as subscriber base tops 7 million

The New York Times said Thursday profits rose in the past quarter, lifted by gains in paying digital readers, as its total subscription base topped seven million.

The prestigious US daily said net profit rose to $35.5 million in the third quarter, more than double the level from a year earlier, while revenues rose 13 percent to $301 million.

The Times said that revenue from digital subscribers in the quarter—which rose to some six million—was for the first time higher than that from print subscribers.

“For the second quarter running, total digital revenue exceeded print revenue. And for the first time, total digital-only subscription revenue exceeded print subscription revenue, making digital-only subscriptions not just the central engine of the company’s growth,” said Meredith Kopit Levien, who took over earlier this year as president and chief executive officer.

“We ended the quarter with approximately 6.9 million total subscriptions, and crossed the seven million mark in the month of October, an increase of two million digital-only subscriptions over the last year and 393,000 over the last quarter.”

The Times has seen gains in readership in recent years as it has bolstered its newsroom to cover President Donald Trump’s administration and the coronavirus pandemic while expanding its footprint.

“The news cycle certainly played a role, but as we are increasingly seeing with each passing quarter, so too did the breadth of our coverage and our improving ability to mean more to more people,” Levien said.

“The continued demand for quality, original, independent journalism across a range of topics makes us even more optimistic about the size of the total market for digital journalism subscriptions and our position in it.”

© 2020 AFP