Year after year, the ambitions of the
New York Times
continue to impress.
At the end of 2021, the prestigious American daily had a total of 8.8 million subscribers (more than 90% digital only), including 1.2 million more during the past year, its parent company revealed on Wednesday.
Among them, 2.1 million subscribe exclusively to its online offers dedicated to cooking (NYT Cooking), games or its audio platform Audm.
The acquisition of hugely popular word game Wordle, announced on Tuesday, has put a spotlight on the media's diversification offerings.
Non-news products now account for more than 10% of its digital subscription revenue (a total of $774 million).
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While 2020 was historic in terms of winning over new subscribers (+2.1 million, attracted by news around the end of Donald Trump's mandate, the US presidential election or the pandemic), 2021 was that of all records for the
New York Times Company
on the financial level.
The group recorded revenue of $2 billion, up 12% year-on-year.
“
We had not experienced such a level of turnover since 2012
“, explains Meredith Kopit Levienn, CEO of the group.
It is, among other things, distributed between distribution revenues (and therefore subscriptions) which increased in one year by 13.9%, and advertising revenues of around 497.5 million dollars, up 26, 8%.
In the end, the press group ended the year in the green, with a positive net result of 219 million dollars.
international conquest
At the start of 2022, the American daily carried out one of the most important operations in its history by buying the sports news site The Athletic for 550 million dollars in cash.
“
If we combine The New York Times subscribers in 2021 with The Athletic's 1.2 million subscribers, we can say that we have already reached our goal of 10 million subscribers by 2025
,” rejoiced Meredith Kopit Levienn.
For 2022, it expects an increase in revenue from its digital subscriptions "
from 18 to 21%
".
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Now, the
New York Times
is aiming
for "at least"
15 million subscribers within five years.
The daily wishes in particular to increase in power internationally, where the rate of progression of its new subscribers is higher than that of American subscribers, who represent nearly 88% of its portfolio.
The
New York Times
crossed the threshold of one million digital subscribers abroad in 2021.
"
There are at least 135 million citizens in the world who are willing to pay for one or more subscriptions to quality English news media, sports content, games, cooking recipes or shopping advice,
says Meredith Kopit Levienn.
This large addressable market, combined with our unique platform, gives us great confidence in our ability to continue to grow
.”
Worldwide, the number of users with an account on their
New York Times
site , without necessarily having a subscription, amounts to 100 million, for 76 million weekly readers.