• by Sara Guaglione , July 27, 2017

The New York Times Company revealed strong digital growth, thanks to increases in digital advertising revenue and online subscriptions, in its 2017 second-quarter earnings report released today.

Total advertising revenue grew slightly by $1 million, from the second-quarter in 2016, to $132 million. That marks the first time this category has grown since the third quarter of 2014.

Digital advertising revenue increased 22.5% to $55.2 million. It represents almost 42% of NYTCO’s total advertising revenue.

The increase is a result of successful smartphone and programmatic advertising, as well as branded content. It was partially offset by a decrease in traditional website display advertising, according to a statement.

However, NYTCO’s second-quarter print advertising revenue decreased 10.5% to $77 million, due primarily to a decline in the luxury, real estate, technology, telecommunications and travel categories.

As for subscriptions, this was the first time digital-only subscription revenue ($83 million, including NYTCO's Crossword product subscriptions) exceeded print advertising revenue ($77 million).

NYTCO added 93,000 net digital-only subscriptions for its news products in the second quarter of this year. The New York Times now has over 2 million digital-only news subscribers, doubling its digital subscriber base over a two-year period.

Mark Thompson, CEO of the NYT, stated: “We believe that more and more people are prepared to pay for high-quality, in-depth journalism that helps them make sense of the world.”

Print subscription revenues increased 13.9%. NYTCO credits its decision to raise its home-delivery prices for The New York Times newspaper this year, which offset a decline in the number of print copies sold.

The company brought in $407 million in revenue for the quarter, an increase of 9.2% over the same period in 2016.

Thompson said during an earnings call the newspaper is on track to reach its goal of doubling its digital revenue, to $800 million by 2020.

The NYT has undergone many changes in the second quarter, which ended in late June. It announced it would eliminate its copy desks to streamline the editing process, sparking a protest outside the company’s Times Square headquarters.