By Layne Bruce
The New York Times reported earlier this month it has surpassed 10 million subscribers in its quest to reach its goal of 15 million. It’s surely a major milestone for the newspaper and bears noting that 9.3 million of those subscribers — or 93 percent — are digital readers.
That’s fairly astonishing considering two decades ago most newspapers were still giving away content for free on the web under the assumption it would drive people to buy print subscriptions and that online advertising would be gravy and only increase over time. Instead, the big gorillas of Facebook, Google, and YouTube soon arrived on the scene, siphoning away digital and — eventually — print ad revenue.
The rise of the paywall followed. Then came the metered paywalls.
Whatever the recipe, the Times seems to have perfected it for its level. The Old Gray Lady reported not only impressive gains in readership in the third quarter but also a significant increase in adjusted operating profit.
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