The New York Times grew its digital subscriber base by 180,000 and reported a profit of $46.6 million in its second quarter, the company announced Tuesday.
Total revenue for the quarter was $590.9 million, up 6.3% year over year. Much of the increase in revenue was due to higher digital subscriptions and money made through product reviews site Wirecutter, which had its best non-holiday quarter ever.
For the second quarter in a row, more than half of new digital subscribers are “bundle” subscribers, CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said during an earnings call. The Times has made the bundle a key part of its growth strategy, encouraging people to subscribe to a package that includes the journalism found on nytimes.com, Wirecutter and sports website The Athletic, as well as the Cooking and Games verticals.
“We view the quarter’s subscriber results as a testament to our broad and valuable product portfolio, which continues to attract a large engaged audience despite the ongoing reality of less traffic from the platform and a news cycle less dominated by singular stories that capture unprecedented attention,” Kopit Levien said.
The Times is in the midst of a price increase roll-out for News and Games subscribers. The company hopes to eventually get at least half of its total subscribers on the bundle. Currently, more than a third of its nearly 10 million subscribers have bought more than one product.
Kopit Levien highlighted several new product features, including a data journalism tool that tracks extreme weather in the U.S and two new puzzle games. She noted that Games has helped funnel subscribers towards the bundle, and the company expects The Athletic to play a similar role.
“We made a number of technical and journalistic enhancements to (The Athletic’s) product in the quarter to drive engagement,” Kopit Levien said. “Those enhancements helped propel its audience to substantial growth for the second quarter in a row, and we continue to make good progress for our goal of Athletic profitability.”
Since its acquisition by the Times in January 2022 for $550 million, The Athletic has operated at a loss. It reported a loss of $7.8 million during the second quarter, an improvement from last year, when it lost $12.1 million. Kopit Levien said The Athletic has more than doubled its advertising revenue year over year and is helping to drive new advertisers across The Times brand.
In a signal that it is going all in on The Athletic, the Times announced last month that it was dismantling its storied sports department. The change has left staff furious, the New York Post recently reported. The New York Times Guild, which represents the 40-person sports desk but not the 500-person Athletic staff, has denounced the move as “union-busting” and filed a grievance with the company.
The Times has defended its decision and said that the sports reporters are being offered new positions across the newsroom.
By midmorning Tuesday, New York Times stock was trading at roughly $43.61 a share, up 6.83% since Monday’s close.
