New York Times gains more new subscribers than ever before
A rush to sign up for paid online subscriptions brought the New York Times a record increase in subscribers at the start of the year.
"On balance, we have gained an astonishing 308,000 digital news subscriptions," explained publishing director Mark Thompson on Wednesday. This means that the customer base grew more in the first quarter than ever before in the history of the newspaper.
Under pressure from falling print revenues, the traditional newspaper has recently invested heavily in its online offerings. In addition, the newspaper, which has often been particularly harshly criticized by US President Donald Trump, had planned to expand the online readership it gained during the 2016 election campaign with unbiased reporting. The media group's shares shot up by almost eleven percent over the course of the year.
According to Wednesday's figures, the New York Times increased the number of its digital-only subscriptions by 16 percent to 2.2 million in the first three months of 2017. This boom, among other things, catapulted the media group back into the black: A net profit of 13.2 million dollars in the reporting period contrasts with a loss of 8.3 million dollars a year earlier. Turnover rose by 5.1 percent to just under 399 million dollars.
Online advertising revenues, which now account for around 38 percent of the New York Times' total advertising business, rose by just under 19 percent. The downturn in print advertising continued with a drop of just under 18 percent. (SDA)
