New York Times Raking in Profits from New Digital Subscribers, Even With Losses From Acquiring The Athletic
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The parent company of The New York Times scored a net gain of 180,000 digital-only subscribers in the second quarter of this year, helping it pull in a healthy profit even after losses from its acquisition of sports site The Athletic.
The Times announced the latest financial figures in a press release Wednesday, touting how it had “added approximately 180,000 net digital-only subscribers and 230,000 digital-only subscriptions compared with the end of the first quarter of 2022.”
That growth in digital subscriptions was a continuation of a trend, with the Times reporting “a net increase of 1,200,000 digital-only subscribers and 1,480,000 digital-only subscriptions compared with the end of the second quarter of 2021.”
Digital subscription revenues were $238.7 million in the second quarter, a 25.5% increase from the prior quarter, representing roughly 43% of the company’s total quarterly revenues of $555.7 million (total revenues increased 11.5%).
The Athletic made headlines when it launched in 2016, paying top dollar to lure away marquee talent from other media outlets, but struggled to turn a profit. It’s still a red line on the Times’ budget with an adjusted operating loss of $12.6 million for the second quarter, but the sports site has been part of a group of digital assets the company has marketed to sell subscriptions to the “All Digital Access Bundle,” which includes access to the news coverage of the Times, The Athletic, the Times‘ games and cooking sections, and Wirecutter, a product recommendation site.
One key contributor to the growing interest in the Times’ games offerings is their acquisition of the popular word game Wordle, which the company bought from its creator Josh Wardle in January for a price tag in the “low seven figures.”
In a conference call with analysts, CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said the company currently had 10.5 million total subscribers and was on track to reach its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027, according to a report by Poynter. New bundle subscribers were more than half of last quarter’s growth.
The Athletic was still a “money-losing acquisition,” wrote Poynter’s Rick Edmonds, but the company’s strong growth in digital subscriptions meant it still “recorded respectable profitability.” He noted that the report was “in line with what analysts had expected,” causing very little effect on the company’s share price.
