The New York Times announced its financials for the first quarter of 2024 Wednesday and we heard a familiar refrain regarding The Athletic’s march towards profitability.
The big news for the Times was that it added 210,000 digital-only subscribers to end Q1 2024 with an adjusted operating profit of $76.1 million. That amounted to a 40.9% year-over-year increase and was driven mostly by digital subscription revenue growth. The media company now clocks in with 10.55 million total subscribers across print and digital and says they have a goal to grow that number to 15 million by 2027.
While the Times said it saw a decline in overall ad revenue, that was driven by declining print advertising and lower spending by major advertisers. However, thanks in large part to The Athletic, digital advertising was up 2.9%.
As for The Athletic, that site hit 4.99 million total subscribers by the end of the quarter, up 1.72 million year over year (not to mention three million newsletter subscribers). Revenue was also up 33% to $37.2 million during that time.
While that subscriber growth is impressive, it still hasn’t translated to profitability. The Times says the sports-centric site lost $8.7 million during Q1 2024.
The good news for the Times is that The Athletic’s quarterly losses are diminishing over time. A year ago, it lost $11.3 million in Q1 2023. It is an uptick from Q4 2023 when the site lost $4.4 million, but the company remains resolute that The Athletic is on the road to profitability.
The New York Times purchased The Athletic in 2022 for $550 million and maintains that it will become profitable by 2025. Considering the company shuttered its own sports department last year, they better hope so.
