New York Times Subscriptions, ‘Other’ Revenue Makes Up for Ad Losses

The New York Times is still succeeding with subscribers and managed to grow profits, despite a continued dip in advertising revenue and increased marketing costs.

The newspaper counted net income for the second quarter of $23.6 million, a 51 percent increase from $15.6 million during the same period last year, on total revenue of $414.6 million, a slight bump of 1.8 percent from $407.1 million. Earnings per diluted share also rose to 14 cents during the quarter from 10 cents.

Mark Thompson, the Times’ chief executive, noted 109,000 new digital-only subscribers joined during the quarter, bringing total subscriptions up to 3.8 million, 2.9 million of which are digital-only.

“Subscription revenues accounted for nearly two-thirds of the company’s revenues, a trend we expect to continue,” Thompson said. “We continue to believe that there is significant runway to expand that base substantially.”

Discussing in May first-quarter results, Thompson set a long-term goal of 10 million subscribers. During the second quarter, revenue from subscriptions grew 4.2 percent to $260.6 million.

A focus on subscriptions certainly makes sense, considering continued weakness in advertising at the Times. During the second quarter, advertising revenue fell 10 percent to $119.2 million.

Thompson said this dip was expected, adding: “We remain confident that we will return to strong year-over-year growth in the third quarter.”

But the Times is also growing its “other” revenue stream, mainly made up of syndication deals, archive licensing, affiliate referrals, its live events and retail and rental income. Revenue from these areas increased 40 percent during the second quarter to $34.7 million.

For More, See:

New York Times Aiming for 10 Million Subscribers as Profits Rise

New York Times Expanding Syndication, Licensing Efforts

New York Times Giving Reporter ‘Second Chance’ After Ethics Flub

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