NY Times Sees Digital Subscriptions Slow as Consumers Cut Spending

The New York Times has reportedly seen digital subscriptions slow amid weakened consumer spending.

The media company added 260,000 digital-only subscribers during its third quarter, down from 300,000 in the prior quarter, Reuters reported Monday (Nov. 4). Analysts expected the publication to add 280,200 subscribers.

At the same time, an uptick in pre-election political advertising helped drive the company’s ad revenue, which came to $118.4 million, ahead of analysts’ estimates of $116.93 million, the report said, citing data from LSEG.

The company reported total revenue of $640.2 million, down from estimates of $640.8 million, per the report. Projected subscription revenues will increase by 7% to 9% in the fourth quarter.

The company saw an almost 30% increase in revenues from its sports news site The Athletic, from $34.4 million in last year’s third quarter to $44.7 million, according to the report.

PYMNTS Intelligence found that subscriptions are often the first thing to go when consumers feel pinched.

Meanwhile, the most recent data from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that consumer spending outpaced income growth in September. Much of that spending centered around basics, such as healthcare and housing.

“The expenses showed that key everyday essentials are still the bulk of what consumers are using their paychecks for,” PYMNTS wrote. “Larger-ticket items, such as vehicles and furnishings, are seeing combatively muted outlays, and even some declines.”

In other subscription-related news, Ken Houseman, vice president of product strategy at Zuora, told PYMNTS last week about the importance of managing customer churn.

There are two types of churn: voluntary and involuntary. The former occurs when customers consciously choose to cancel their subscription, in many cases because they no longer see value in the service, he said.

Involuntary churn is triggered by payment failures like expired credit cards or failed transactions due to fraud detection.

“If you don’t manage that churn and you don’t take a strong approach to that churn, you’ll end up negatively impacting any financial planning model the business has in place,” he said.

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