New York Times added 404,000 digital subscribers in Q3, beating forecasts, while ad revenue fell less than expected. The publisher now has 11.4M digital-only subscribers against a 2027 target of 15M.
New York Times Co. reported third-quarter results that showed the pace of advertising decline slowing, even as the newspaper publisher continued to add digital subscribers at a rate that outpaced analyst expectations.
Total revenue rose roughly 1% to $574 million in the quarter, the company said Wednesday. Adjusted earnings came in at 43 cents a share, matching the consensus estimate compiled by Bloomberg.
The key story line was advertising. Print revenue fell 14% to $80 million, extending years of structural erosion. Digital advertising, where the company has made the bigger push, dropped 2.6% to $72 million. That was a shallower fall than the 8% decline analysts had projected, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Combined ad revenue of $152 million was still down about 9% from a year earlier.
New York Times Co. added 404,000 net digital subscribers in the quarter, bringing the total to 11.4 million. That was ahead of the 340,000 that analysts on average had forecast. The growth came from the company's bundle strategy, which packages the core news product with cooking, games and the Wirecutter reviews site. Management has set a target of 15 million total subscribers by 2027.
The digital subscription revenue climbed 11% to $301 million. Print circulation revenue fell 6% to $118 million, consistent with industry-wide declines in newspaper home delivery.
On costs, the company reported adjusted operating profit of $83 million, flat with a year earlier. The profit margin came in at roughly 14.5%.
New York Times Co. shares are up about 16% this year, outpacing the broader S&P 500. The stock trades at roughly 20 times forward earnings, a premium to most legacy newspaper publishers but a discount to high-growth digital media peers.
The company did not issue formal guidance for the fourth quarter. Management pointed to the election cycle as a potential catalyst for both news subscription sign-ups and political advertising.
The AlphaScala score for New York Times Co. sits at 44 out of 100, with a label of Mixed. That places it in the middle of the Communication Services sector on the platform's proprietary ranking system. For more, see the NYT stock page.
A full breakdown of the quarter is available in the company's SEC filing and investor presentation, both published late Wednesday afternoon.
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