Aided by the recent acquisition of sports website The Athletic, The New York Times Co., which publishes The New York Times, announced on Wednesday that it gained 387,000 net digital subscribers in the first quarter of 2022. .
The company said it now has 9.1 million subscribers, including those of The Athletic, which it purchased on Feb.
As the leap brings the company closer to its stated goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027, The Athletic website is eating into the profits. The site, bought for US$ 550 million (R$ 2.74 billion), lost US$ 6.8 million (R$ 33.8 million) in February and March.
Overall, the company reported adjusted operating income of US$60.9 million (R$303 million) for the quarter, down from US$68.1 million (R$339.14 million) a year ago, hampered by The Athletic’s operating losses.
The growth in subscriptions and advertising helped increase total revenue by 13.6% to US$537.4 million. While total advertising revenue increased nearly 20%, digital advertising revenue for the quarter grew 12.6%, below the company’s forecasts.
Total operating costs increased by almost 18% to US$496.4 million (R$2.47 billion).
“We are heading for a strong start to the next phase of our strategy, which is to be the essential signature for all English-speaking people who want to understand and engage with the world,” said Meredith Kopit Levien, CEO of the company.
Levien had previously said that company executives believe the market is “at least 135 million” of potential subscribers.
In February, they announced that they had reached their goal of 10 million subscriptions and set a new goal of at least 15 million subscribers.
As of the end of 2021, the company said it had around 7.6 million subscribers with 8.8 million subscriptions. The acquisition of The Athletic this year brought in around 1.1 million subscribers. The company said The Athletic had added about 16,000 net subscribers in the two months since its acquisition.
For the current quarter, the company expects digital-only subscription revenue to increase 23% to 27% year-on-year, while digital advertising revenue is expected to increase in the “low single digits”.
Adjusted operating costs for The New York Times Group, which does not include The Athletic, are expected to rise 12% to 15% in the quarter and then slow in the second half of the year, the company said.
The New York Times shares rose 1.7% at the close of trading on Wednesday.
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