New York Times: Over 40,000 paying online subscribers gained
One of the most exciting experiments in journalism seems to be working: The New York Times has gained 43,000 paying subscribers for its website in just three months.
At the end of September, the renowned newspaper had a total of 324,000 readers who are willing to pay for content on the Internet. Other media companies had previously failed with their payment models. "We have made significant progress in our efforts to generate robust revenue from our online business," said CEO Janet Robinson on Thursday in New York.
A regular monthly subscription costs between 15 and 35 dollars, depending on whether the reader wants to use the website, smartphone or tablet apps. The New York Times also reportedly made more money with online advertising.
Since March, readers have only been able to click on 20 articles on the New York Times website for free, after which they have to log in. The newspaper is currently offering trial subscriptions of 99 cents a month. According to company boss Robinson, the drumbeat for online subscriptions has even boosted demand for the printed newspaper. The New York Times is currently advertising with television commercials.
Due to falling advertising revenues at the newspaper, however, the turnover of the entire New York Times Group fell by 3 percent to millions of dollars (483 million Swiss francs) in the third quarter. Thanks to cost savings, however, the media company got out of the red and posted a bottom-line profit of 16 million dollars. In the same period of the previous year, a loss of 4 million dollars was recorded. (SDA)
