The New York Times Company gained 210,000 digital subscribers last quarter, mostly users who signed up for a bundle of services that includes news, gaming and sports coverage through The Athletic, the company said Wednesday.
Adjusted operating profit for the three months was $76.1 million, an increase of 40.9 percent from a year ago, driven by both subscriber growth and higher average revenue per user.
“2024 is off to a strong start, as our results reflect the power of our strategy to be the essential subscription for every curious person seeking to understand and engage with the world,” said Meredith Kopit Levien, CEO of the Times Company, in a statement.
In recent years, The Times has tried to get more subscribers to pay for a suite of services that includes Wirecutter, which recommends products, and Cooking, an app that offers users a vast library of recipes. By increasing the number of those subscribers, The Times can expand its revenue per user, a figure closely watched on Wall Street.
The company said it had about 10.5 million total subscribers for its print and digital products at the end of the first quarter, up about 8 percent from a year earlier. About 640,000 of them were print subscribers, down about 10 percent from the same period last year. The company’s goal is to reach 15 million total subscribers by the end of 2027.
While the number of digital subscribers continues to grow, the Times’s advertising business has suffered declines. Total advertising revenue decreased 2.4 percent to $103.7 million from a year earlier, the company said. It said the decline had been driven by declines in print advertising and lower spending by media, entertainment and technology companies. Digital advertising increased 2.9 percent to $63 million, thanks in part to higher advertising revenue at The Athletic.
The company said it spent $1 million in the first quarter on its lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, which are working together on developing artificial intelligence. The Times sued the companies in December, accusing them of copyright infringement. Both Microsoft and OpenAI have sought to dismiss key elements of the lawsuit.
The Athletic, which The Times bought in 2022 for $550 million, had 4.99 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter, an increase of about 1.72 million from a year earlier. Those numbers include users who pay for The Athletic as a standalone subscription or who have access to The Athletic through their bundled subscription. The Athletic lost $8.7 million in the first quarter, compared to a loss of $11.3 million a year earlier.
The company said revenue at The Athletic had increased 33 percent to $37.2 million in the first quarter, thanks largely to increased subscriptions and a deal to license items to Apple for its streaming product. news.