After years of insisting that advertising wouldn’t be a core part of its business, The Athletic is now turning a profit largely thanks to ad revenue.
Following The Athletic’s acquisition by The New York Times in 2022, the newspaper company introduced advertising to the platform, a first for the sports-focused publication launched in 2016. And after struggling to reach profitability for much of its existence, The Athletic now finds itself eking out a “modest profit,” according to a report by Katie Robertson.
The Times’ sports vertical recorded an adjusted operating profit of $2.9 million in Q1, up from a loss of $8.7 million in Q1 last year. During that time, advertising revenue increased a whopping 82.5% in the quarter, reaching a total of $10.4 million. Overall, The Athletic’s total revenue increased 27.9% to $47.6 million in the period.
That means about 22% of The Athletic’s revenue during Q1 was earned on the back of advertising.
As the company secures its newfound profits, it has continued a long trend of layoffs to prominent writers. The site has significantly pared back its team-focused coverage, recently axing its Penn State and Wisconsin football beat writers along with one of its most recognizable soccer reporters, Pablo Maurer.
No question, the site has moved far past its original plan to focus on local sports coverage, and has now shifted towards a nationalized strategy with more broad appeal.
It’s no surprise that, after the Times purchased the publication for $550 million three years ago, there would be significant changes focused on securing profitability. While those changes seem to be working, the question will be if it is coming at the cost of quality journalism.
