New York Times' digital subscriber growth slows, shares drop

Reuters 

By and Arjun Panchadar

The started charging for from 2011 to offset a decline in readers of its broadsheets and has largely been successful in its efforts.

Digital subscriptions, starting at $97.76 for one year, are cheaper than print editions and some plans come bundled with access to its sought-after daily crossword puzzles and cooking recipes.

The company, however, has cut back on discounts it launched last year, when it also got a boost from the "Trump bump" - the effect of U.S. Donald Trump's attacks on the paper as well as the Times' coverage of his administration.

added 109,000 paid digital subscribers in the second quarter, compared with 114,000 a year earlier.

"Our subscribers who came to us around the 2016 Election and post-Election periods continue to retain better than previous cohorts," said in a statement.

The 167-year old newspaper expects third-quarter subscription revenue to increase in the mid-single digits and to fall in low-single digits.

The company had 3.8 million total subscriptions at the end of the quarter, 2.9 million of which were digital-only.

Digital advertising revenue, which accounts for more than a third of the company's total advertising revenue, fell 7.5 percent to $51 million, hurt by a drop in display advertising, where it competes with the likes of Alphabet Inc's and for ad dollars.

However, subscription revenue from the company's digital-only subscription products, which include as well crossword and recipes, rose 19.6 percent to $98.7 million.

Net income attributable jumped 51 percent to $23.6 million, or 14 cents per share, in the quarter.

Excluding items, the company earned 17 cents per share, above the average estimate of 15 cents, according to I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 1.8 percent $414.6 million, above the average estimate of $412.3 million.

(Reporting by and in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Wed, August 08 2018. 21:41 IST