• by Sara Guaglione , August 5, 2020

Quarterly digital revenue at The New York Times Company has surpassed print revenue for the first time. Over the three-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Timeshad its best quarter in terms of subscription growth in its history.

In Q2 2020, The Times brought in $185.5 million in revenue for digital subscriptions and ads, the company announced in its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday. 

Print revenue for the company in Q2 was $175.4 million.

The company also added 669,000 net new digital subscribers, likely driven by a news cycle dominated by the pandemic, protests against police violence and the 2020 presidential campaign.

The newspaper now has a total of 6.5 million subscriptions, including 5.7 million digital-only subscriptions. The company’s goal is to hit 10 million subscriptions by 2025.

But it wasn’t all good news for The New York Times Company. Adjusted operating profit for the second quarter was $52.1 million, a 6.2% decline from $55.6 million in the same quarter last year.

Digital ad revenue fell 32%, and print ad revenue dropped 55%, compared to Q2 2019.

Total ad revenue fell to $67.8 million — a 44% drop. 

The company attracted 493,000 net new subscriptions to its core news products during the three-month period. Other digital products, such as Cooking and Crossword, brought in an additional 176,000 subscriptions.

Total circulation revenue rose 8.4%. 

The company projects an overall decline of 35% to 40% in ad revenue for Q3. For digital ad revenue, The Times expects a 20% decline compared to last year’s third quarter.

The company also expects total subscription revenue to rise 10% in the next quarter.