New York Times hits 10 million subscriptions

On its latest earnings call, The New York Times reported that the company has reached its goal of 10 million subscriptions ahead of schedule, assisted by the recent US$550m acquisition of The Athletic. It’s been a busy week for the company, which has also announced that it is set to buy online puzzle game Wordle. 

“Our performance in 2021 demonstrated the power of our digital-first, subscription-first approach,” said Meredith Kopit Levien, President & Chief Executive Officer for The New York Times Company. “We posted our second-best year ever for net subscription additions and strongest operating profit and adjusted operating profit in many years.” 

“Our latest audience research suggests there are now at least 135m adults worldwide who are paying, or willing to pay, for one or more subscriptions to English language news, sports coverage, puzzles, recipes, or expert shopping advice. This large and growing addressable market, combined with our unique platform gives us great confidence in our ability to continue to grow.” 

Eagle-eyed readers will notice the prominent position of ‘puzzles’ in that list of subscription offerings. Earlier this week, it was announced that popular online puzzle pastime Wordle was to be acquired by the company. The game’s creator, Software Engineer said that he was ‘overwhelmed‘ by The New York Times’ decision to make the purchase, and our very own Ashley Norris has more here.

All in all this is extremely positive news for NYT, which has achieved its subscription ambitious a staggering three years ahead of schedule. 

Also on the earnings call, it was revealed that revenues for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased 16.7 percent to $594.2 million from $509.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Subscription revenues increased 11.2 percent to $351.2 million, advertising revenues increased 26.9 percent to $176.8 million and other revenues increased 22.1 percent to $66.3 million.

You can read the full press release here.