New York (AFP)
The New York Times had 7.5 million subscribers at the end of 2020, a gain of more than two million over the past year alone, according to a statement released Thursday.
Some 89% of subscribers are now digital only, with the number of readers receiving the print edition falling slightly (-2.7%) to 833,000.
In just four years, the length of Donald Trump's tenure in the White House, the Times has almost tripled its subscriber portfolio (2.6 times).
Coming late to the paid model, the newspaper registered its first digital subscription exactly ten years ago.
It now has 6.69 million subscribers online alone.
Subscribers outside the United States now account for 18% of the total and the rate of growth of this part of the portfolio is higher than that of American subscribers.
During a conference call, CEO Meredith Kopit Levien indicated that the Times considered as an "exception" the gain in subscribers achieved in 2020 (2.29 million net), driven by the US presidential election and the pandemic coronavirus.
In terms of revenue, revenue from subscriptions in 2020 is double that from advertising.
In 2020, advertising revenue fell by 26%, while revenue from subscriptions grew by 10%.
In total, turnover fell slightly over the year (-1.6%) to 1.78 billion dollars.
The result was affected by an exceptional accounting item in the fourth quarter, linked to a retirement plan.
In the end, net profit is down 28% over the year, to $ 100 million.
© 2021 AFP