The New York Times Company said on Wednesday that it added 250,000 digital subscribers to the last quarter and that digital subscription income in the period jumped by more than 14%.
These results contributed to generating an adjusted operating profit of 21.9% more than a year earlier, at $ 92.7 million during the quarter. Total turnover increased by 7.1%to $ 636 million.
The Times had 11.66 million subscribers in total at the end of the first quarter, said the company, including 600,000 printed subscribers. The company has a declared target of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027.
Meredith Kopit Levien, president and chief executive officer of The Times Company, worked to diversify the business sources of the company by offering several lifestyle products as well as its information coverage in a subscription package.
Almost half of the company’s subscribers are now subscribing to more than one of the products, which include the basic report, the kitchen, the games, the Wirecutr product revision website and the sporting press. Average revenues by user, an increasingly important measure for Times, reached $ 9.54 in the quarter, up 3.6%, as more subscribers paid higher prices for subscriptions.
“Our strategy works, and our company increases and demonstrates resilience in the middle of current economic and geopolitical uncertainty,” Kopit Levien said in a press release.
Digital advertising revenues reached $ 70.9 million for the first three months of the year, up 12.4%, compared to $ 63 million in the same quarter of the previous year, while total advertising revenues increased 4.2% to $ 108.1 million.
References from the benchmark and affiliate licenses, such as those of Wirecutr, increased by 3.7% compared to the first three months of 2024.
The quarterly operating costs were $ 577.3 million, an increase of 5.8% against 545.7 million dollars a year ago.
Athletics, which the Times bought for $ 550 million in 2022, continued to eliminate a modest profit. The operating profit adjusted for the quarter was 2.9 million dollars, against a loss of $ 8.7 million in the same quarter in 2024, while its advertising revenues increased by 82.5% in the quarter, to $ 10.4 million. Total turnover of athletics increased by 27.9% in the first quarter, to $ 47.6 million.
