The New York Times Co.’s stock reached an all-time high on Wednesday after the company added about 230,000 digital-only subscribers in the second quarter, contributing to a 10% increase in overall revenue. The Times currently has 11.9 million subscribers across all of its print and digital platforms, including the Athletic, NYT Cooking, Games, Wirecutter, and core news coverage. Over six million of the 11.3 million digital-only subscribers the company had at the end of the quarter were bundle or multiproduct customers.
Operating profit increased to $106.6 million, or 50 cents per share, while total revenue increased to $686 million. FactSet reports that adjusted earnings came in at 58 cents per share, exceeding the 51 cents that Wall Street had predicted. Analysts predicted $671 million in revenue.
New York Times stock hits all time high amid digital growth surge
While total subscription revenue increased 9.6% to $481.4 million, digital subscription revenue climbed over 15% to $350 million. As promotional pricing fades and loyal customers absorb price increases, digital subscribers now pay an average of $9.64 per month, up more than 3% year over year.
Additionally, advertising recovered, with total ad revenue rising more than 12% to $134 million and digital ad revenue increasing nearly 19%. With revenue up 33% to $54 million, The Athletic made a significant contribution. Thanks to a nearly twofold increase in advertising revenue to $14.1 million, the sports website reported an adjusted operating profit of $5.8 million for the quarter.
With Wirecutter’s impressive performance and a new artificial intelligence licensing agreement with Amazon.com, affiliate, licensing, and other revenue came to $70.5 million. According to the Wall Street Journal, the multiyear deal will bring in at least $20 million a year.
According to the Times, revenue from digital-only subscriptions is expected to increase by 13% to 16% in the third quarter when compared to the same time last year. Additionally, it forecasts low- to mid-single-digit increases in overall ad sales and a low-double-digit increase in digital ad revenue.
CEO Meredith Kopit Levien addressed worries about AI’s increasing influence on publisher traffic during a call with analysts. She gave examples of tools that draw viewers away from original content, such as Google’s AI Overviews and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Still, she said, “Tech companies are making moves that continue to result in less traffic to publishers,” adding that “our direct relationships with customers have made the Times more resilient against some of those challenges.”
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