NEW YORK – The New York Times reported slower digital subscriber growth for the second quarter on Aug 5 and issued a lacklustre digital subscription revenue forecast, sending its shares down more than 8 per cent in premarket trading.
Publishers are operating in a crowded market, where big tech firms and artificial intelligence platforms impact search and referral traffic, while trust in news is shrinking.
Media outlets such as Axios, CNN and The Verge are jostling to gain more readership in a busy news cycle, putting pressure on publishers such as NYT to gain market share.
NYT has been bundling its news offerings with lifestyle-focused products such as Wirecutter, sports website The Athletic and games including Wordle, as it looks to enhance value for subscribers.
The Times added about 280,000 net digital-only subscribers in the second quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 295,300, according to data compiled by Visible Alpha.
NYT had added 310,000 digital-only subscribers in the previous quarter.
The company expects digital-only subscription revenue of 12 per cent to 15 per cent, the midpoint of which was below the estimate of 14.2 per cent.
Total advertising revenue rose by 11.3 per cent to US$149.1 million (S$191.1 million), beating an estimate of US$146.4 million. REUTERS
