New York Times Q1 2026 earnings beat on digital subscriber growth

The New York Times reported first-quarter net and gross that exceeded expert expectations, driven by integer subscriber maturation and a leap successful integer advertising, sending its banal up astir 8.5% successful aboriginal trading Wednesday.

Against an expert statement of 270,513 nett caller digital-only subscribers, according to Reuters, the Times surpassed expectations by adding 310,000 successful the quarter, lifting its full subscriber number to astir 13.1 million. The institution present has astir 12.52 cardinal digital-only subscribers.

On the bottommost line, adjusted EPS of $0.61 cleared the $0.47 Wall Street forecast, according to Bloomberg, portion top-line gross of $712.2 cardinal — a 12% year-over-year summation — outpaced the astir $700 cardinal analysts had projected.

Digital-only subscription gross roseate 16.1% year-over-year to $389 million. Digital advertizing gross climbed 31.6% to $93.3 million, which the institution attributed to beardown marketer request and maturation successful advertizing supply. CFO William Bardeen attributed a 2.4% summation successful digital-only mean gross per user, to $9.77, to a operation of customers graduating disconnected discounted introductory plans and the effect of caller across-the-board terms increases.

Net income came successful astatine $87.9 million, up 77.4% from $49.6 cardinal successful the archetypal 4th of 2025. Operating nett borderline expanded astir 350 ground points to 12.7%.

"Q1 was different large quarter, and our results bespeak beardown request for the uncompromised journalism and premium manner contented that The Times is uniquely susceptible of delivering," CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said successful a statement.

Reader appetite for Times journalism remains strong, Kopit Levien said connected the net call, though she acknowledged the headwinds the manufacture faces. "We're capable to conscionable that request contempt operating successful a media situation dominated by a tiny fig of tech companies whose moves proceed to interaction postulation to publishers," she told Bloomberg.

For the 2nd quarter, the Times said it expects digital-only subscription gross to turn betwixt 14% and 17%, and integer advertizing gross to summation by a high-teens percentage. Total gross from subscriptions is expected to emergence 10% to 12%.

Among the ineligible disputes connected the Times' docket is simply a suit it has brought against Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging that those companies trained AI products connected its published journalism without authorization. The institution recorded $4.2 cardinal successful pre-tax generative AI litigation costs successful the quarter. Operating costs roseate 7.7% successful the quarter, with the institution attributing the summation to higher compensation and benefits expenses.

With 13.1 cardinal full subscribers, the Times said it remains connected people to deed its 2027 people of 15 million, according to Reuters.