New York Times digital subscriber growth slows, shares fall

The New York Times Company added about 280,000 net digital-only subscribers in the second quarter, but the slower pace was enough to unsettle investors and push the stock lower. The company said total subscribers reached 13.35 million, while digital-only subscription revenue rose 16.4 percent from a year earlier and digital-only average revenue per user increased 3.1 percent.

The gain fell short of Wall Street’s estimate of 295,300 and slowed from the first quarter, when the company added about 310,000 net digital-only subscribers. A year earlier, in the second quarter of 2025, the Times added about 230,000 digital-only subscribers and reported digital-only ARPU of $9.64, showing that growth remains positive but harder to accelerate as the base gets larger.

Shares fell about 6 percent in premarket trading, with other market readings putting the decline above 8 percent before the bell and near 13 percent in early trading. Investors were also reacting to a weaker digital subscription revenue forecast for the next quarter, a signal that tighter discretionary spending and more competition for attention may be slowing the flow of new paying readers.

The results matter because the Times has spent years telling Wall Street that a bundle built on news, Games, Cooking, Audio and lifestyle journalism can support durable growth. In its 2025 annual report, the company said it ended the year with 12.78 million total subscribers after adding 1.4 million digital subscribers and said it was moving toward a goal of 15 million total subscribers. That made the latest quarter more than a one-off miss: it tested whether a nonstop news cycle still converts into paid subscriptions at the pace investors expect, or whether the market is starting to price in reader saturation and churn.