The New York Times hits the 6 million subscriber mark

The New York Times reported that it surpassed 6 million subscribers in both print and digital despite falling ad revenues.

The Times attracted more reader subscriptions as people increasingly sought information on the coronavirus pandemic. While subscriptions surged due to demand for news, overall ad revenue declined by more than 15 percent.

Digital ad revenue also fell by 7.9 percent, while print ad revenue had a drop of 20.9 percent. This in turn led to a drop in operating profit which was $44.3 million for this quarter.

Chief executive Mark Thompson said, “We saw advertising fall rapidly toward the end of the quarter and believe that advertising in the second quarter will fall between 50 percent and 55 percent compared to a year ago with limited visibility beyond that. Nonetheless, we believe that the company will emerge from this global crisis with a distinctive and valuable advertising revenue stream to complement a digital news subscription business, which is now by far the largest and most successful in the world.”

Despite the bleak situation, Thompson described the company as “financially sound” and said it would “safely invest in our digital growth strategy and continue to hire new talent to help execute it.”