• by Sara Guaglione , February 5, 2020

The New York Times is raising the price of its digital subscription for the first time, from $15 every four weeks to $17 — from about $195 to $221 a year.

The increase will take effect on March 8, according to CNN. That’s just a few days after Super Tuesday primaries on March 3 for the 2020 presidential election.

In a message to subscribers, The New York Times said the new rate will “help us sustain and strengthen our coverage at a time when independent journalism is under great pressure.”

The price for students and educators will stay $1 per week.

The Times launched the digital subscription and put most of its content behind a metered paywall in March 2011. It allows non-subscribers to read a few articles a month before they need to subscribe to access additional stories.

The publisher now has over 4 million digital subscribers.

Revenue from the Times' digital-only subscriptions increased 18% year-over-year to $401 million from 2017 to 2018, according to the company's latest annual earnings report.

The company’s goal is to get 10 million digital subscribers by 2025.