Above the fold news: Profits for the Times... The New York Times' quarterly earnings were politely reported in a totally fair way by crosstown WSJ. Profits rose 38% to $30M, driven by higher subscription revenue and... rental income from its giant headquarters building. When people are getting news from Facebook, you make money where you can.
User metrics matter... 500K people pay NYT for just its crossword puzzles and cooking recipes. But NYT is a news institution, so let's look at how many humans get all the news that's fit to print:
- 💻 3.6M pay for the Times digital.
- 🗞 0.9M still go old fashioned newspaper.
- 🏆 10M total subscribers is the goal by 2025 (ambitious).
- 🎧 Bonus episode: 2M people listen to the Times' podcast, "The Daily," daily.
What's black and white and dead all over... The Times' newspaper. Emphasis on "paper." Revenues for digital advertising rose 19%, while ads on huge fold-out pages fell 12%. And it's spending a lot to continue printing those for a declining userbase. Maybe it's for symbolic/historic value — our grandkids should experience a lovely morning stroll through the Sunday Times in its original, unpleasant newsprint paper form.