New York Times adds 310,000 digital subscribers as profit jumps 27%

The New York Times Company kept turning subscription growth into bottom-line leverage, adding about 310,000 net digital-only subscribers in the first quarter and lifting adjusted operating profit 27.2% to $117.9 million. Total subscribers reached 13.08 million, with digital-only subscribers at 12.52 million, underscoring how far the company has moved from dependence on a fragile ad market and toward a business built on recurring reader revenue.

Revenue in the quarter rose to $712.2 million, while digital-only subscription revenues increased 16.1% from a year earlier. Average revenue per user for digital-only subscriptions climbed 2.4% to $9.77, a sign that the company is still finding room to raise prices without choking off demand. Operating profit increased 54.5% to $90.6 million, and the adjusted operating margin reached 16.6%, showing how added subscribers can translate into faster profit growth when the fixed costs of journalism and product development are already in place.

The strength was not limited to subscriptions. Digital advertising revenues rose 31.6% year over year, while affiliate, licensing and other revenues increased 7.8%. That mix matters: it suggests the company is not only insulating itself from industrywide ad weakness, but also extracting more value from its audience across multiple channels. Meredith Kopit Levien said the quarter reflected strong demand for “uncompromised journalism and premium lifestyle content,” and said the company remained confident 2026 would bring revenue growth, adjusted operating profit growth, margin expansion and strong free cash flow.

The results also sharpen the strategic case for scale in news. The Times publicly set a target of 15 million total subscribers by year-end 2027 when it outlined its digital-first strategy in 2022, and the latest quarter puts that goal within reach. The company added roughly 450,000 net digital-only subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2025, then another 310,000 in the first quarter of 2026, showing that the bundle has remained sticky even as the price rises. Reuters reported that shares climbed nearly 5% in early trading after the release, as investors rewarded a business that continues to grow while much of the media sector is still shrinking.