New York Times reports Q1 earnings

The New York Times Company reported first quarter results May 6.

Operating profit decreased to $27.3 million in the first quarter of 2020 from $34.6 million in the same period of 2019 and adjusted operating profit decreased to $44.3 million from $52.4 million in the prior year, as higher digital-only subscription and other revenues were more than offset by lower advertising revenues and higher costs.

“In the first quarter, we added 587,000 net new digital subscriptions, resulting in the highest number of net new subscriptions in a quarter in our history. This was despite the fact that we are allowing audiences to access the majority of our coverage related to the coronavirus outside of our pay model,” said Mark Thompson, president and CEO.

“Of the 587,000 net adds, 468,000 were to our core news product, with 119,000 to our other digital products. As of the end of April, The Times now has more than four million subscriptions to our digital-only news product; more than five million digital-only subscriptions in all; and more than six million total subscriptions across digital and print,” Thompson said.

“We saw advertising fall rapidly towards the end of the quarter and believe that advertising in the second quarter will fall between 50% and 55% compared to a year ago with limited visibility beyond that,” he said.

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