• by Ray Schultz , August 3, 2022

The New York Times Company saw an 18% decline in Q2 operating profit to $76 million, mostly due to losses at The Athletic, the sports site the Times purchased for $550 million in February, a story reports.   

In addition, the Times reported a 2.4% decline in digital ad revenue YoY to $69.3 million.

However, the Times added 180,000 digital-only subscribers in the quarter, a 70% hike from the gain in Q2 2021, and is on track toward achieving its goal of reaching 15 million by the end of 2027. 

And, print advertising improved by 15.1% to $48.1 million, thanks to recovery in the entertainment and luxury categories. 

Meanwhile, the company is focusing on reporting on subscribers as opposed to subscriptions, since one person may subscribe to several products.  

In line with that, the Times is bundling digital products with its news report. 

“News remains core to our value proposition, but the bundle helps ensure that The Times is indispensable to an ever-widening group of people, even as news engagement ebbs and flows,” Meredith Kopit Levien, the president and chief executive of the Times Company, said on an analysts’ call, the story continues.  

In a separate development, the paper announced that Matt Purdy, who steered much of the paper’s Putlizer Prize-winning reporting over the past 10 years, is stepping back from his role as deputy managing editor, in line with the company’s policies: he recently turned 66. He will serve as an editor at large and continue to shape the paper’s investigative reporting.