The NYT’s Winning Formula

Their recent numbers were disappointing – because ad revenue for the company as a whole is down 11 percent over last year. But digital subscriptions are coming to the newspaper’s rescue and now account for a majority of the subscribers. It has 1.1 million digital subscribers, alongside 731,000 print subscribers. That has given the paper a gain in circulation of 18 percent in one year – a terrific result. And all the newspapers surviving are doing so by meters or some version of paywalls.

Now compare the NYT with the Washington Post. They used to be comparable papers (I remember a time when I preferred the Post). Now: not so much. The WaPo’s circ is down 6.5 percent, and it has only 42,000 digital subscribers – a mere four percent of the NYT’s. Its total circulation is now a quarter of the NYT’s. Even the Dish – a micro-media-company – now has a solid 25,000 digital subscribers. It’s a new world, innit?