The challenge of combining profits with quality journalism is not impossible to win. The New York Times succeeded, one of the oldest and most prestigious newspapers in the world, but also one of the bravest in reinventing itself.
The NYT's latest financial statements closed with a turnover of 709 million dollars from digital alone. In the fourth quarter, for the first time online advertising exceeded that of the printed edition, and not by a small amount: 103 million (+23% year on year) against 88 million (-10%). In all of 2018, the American newspaper's online advertising grew by 8,6% to $259 million.
However, most of the revenues come from another source: online subscriptions. More than 3,3 million people worldwide pay for access to The New York Times content. Compared to 2017, there was a surge of 27%.
The success of this business model is certainly facilitated by the globality of the English language and by the weight of the NYT brand, but it would have been impossible without an innovative approach to journalistic work.
On an editorial level, the Times has implemented a real revolution, overcoming both the protection of the "print edition" and the "digital first" approach, which downgraded the paper edition to a simple substitute for the online one.
Today the digital edition of the NYT is unitary – that is, it does not make distinctions between app and website – and is clearly different from the paper edition, which is a completely different product in itself. Sometimes articles already published online several days earlier appear on paper: the fruition tool is different, the graphics too, so it is not a mere repetition, but a different experience offered to the reader.
“Our success with subscribers and top advertisers depends more than anything on the quality of journalism,” CEO Mark Thompson wrote in a statement. “That's why we've increased, rather than decreased, our investment in newsrooms. and in the comments and opinions section. We want to further accelerate our digital growth, so in 2019 we will direct new investments in journalism, product and marketing”.
