• by Sara Guaglione , February 2, 2017

The New York Times Company (NYTCO) has released its 2016 fourth-quarter earnings report, revealing drops in total revenues and print advertising revenue, as well as an increase in digital advertising revenue, circulation revenue and subscriptions.

Including print and crossword product subscriptions, the NYT now has more than 3 million total paid subscribers, which Mark Thompson, president and CEO of The New York Times Company, called “a significant milestone.”

Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2016 decreased 1.1% to $439.7 million from $444.7 million in the same period of 2015.

Total revenues in 2016 fell about 2% to $1.6 billion.

According to a statement from the company, the decline was “largely driven by a pension settlement charge, lower print advertising revenues and higher costs.”

Advertising revenues declined 9.7% in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Fourth-quarter print advertising revenue decreased about 20%, mostly due to a decline in display advertising. Print advertising revenue decreased 15.8% in 2016 compared to 2015.

Meanwhile, digital advertising revenue increased 10.9% to $77.6 million in the fourth quarter. Digital advertising revenue was $208.8 million in 2016, compared with $197.1 million in 2015, a 5.9% increase.

The growth was due to an increase in revenue from the company’s mobile platform, programmatic buying channels and branded content, which offset a decrease in display advertising.

Digital advertising revenue made up 41.9% of the company’s total advertising revenues.

Circulation revenue from NYTCO’s digital-only subscriptions (which includes news product and Crossword product subscriptions) also increased, by 21.9% compared with the fourth quarter of 2015, to $63.7 million.

Circulation revenue from digital-only subscriptions to the company’s news products increased 21.2% to $61.1 million.

Paid digital subscriptions totaled approximately 1.85 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, a net increase of 296,000 subscriptions compared to the end of the third quarter of 2016 and a 45.9% increase compared to the end of the fourth quarter of 2015.

Likely due to an increased interest in news coverage during the presidential election, the NYT added 276,000 net digital-only subscriptions to its news products in the last three months of the year, making it the best quarter since 2011, when the company launched its pay model.

“With the rate of growth accelerating over the past year, we believe there is further opportunity to significantly extend our subscription reach, both in the U.S. and around the world,” Thompson stated. “We will remain focused on our legacy cost base while continuing to invest in digital growth and innovation."

Perhaps Donald Trump’s claims that the NYT is “failing” served as free advertising for the newspaper.