 |
The New York Times added 301,000 digital subscribers in the first three months of 2021, its smallest increase since Q3 2019. However, that bump takes it to a total of 7.8 million subscribers across its print and digital platforms, which according to the NYT, keeps it on the path toward reaching 10 million subscribers by 2025. Digital subscriptions hit seven million, with print subscriptions continuing to slide. The Times also reported a 54 percent rise in adjusted operating profit (to $68 million) and a 6.6 percent boost in revenue (to $473 million). While advertising dropped by 8.5 percent (to $97 million), the NYT said it had expected ad revenues to fall by twice that number. The company expects ad revenue to grow considerably over 2021, rising between 55 and 60 percent.
 |
Twitter purchases Scroll, an app that lets users read online articles minus interruptions from ads and pop-ups. To make up for the loss in ad revenues, publishers receive a portion of the $5-per-month fee that Scroll subscribers currently pay. Twitter says that it plans to incorporate Scroll into its forthcoming subscription service. “We want to reimagine what they’ve built to deliver a seamless reading experience to our hyper-engaged audiences and allow publishers to deliver cleaner content that can make them more money than today’s business models,” said Twitter VP, publisher products Mike Park.
 |
New York Daily News staffers vote 55-3 to be represented by the NewsGuild of New York. The move comes as the paper’s parent company, Tribune Publishing, faces a May 21 shareholder vote to be acquired by Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund known for slashing costs at the papers it operates. With the Daily News on board, eight of Tribune’s nine daily papers have union representation. The Guild wants Tribune shareholders to vote against the Alden acquisition and is actively involved in the search for an alternate buyer. Tribune bought the Daily News in 2017 for $1, and also assumed the paper’s debt. Since it took over, Tribune has slashed the Daily News staff by about 50 percent.
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
Trump Media & Technology Group is discussing a spin-off of the Truth Social platform following the expected closing of its $6B merger deal with TAE Technologies... Condé Nast sells off Them, the digital LGBTQ-focused platform it launched in 2017, to Equalpride, publisher of Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler, Health PLUS Wellness and Pride.com... CBS News has parted ways with longevity influencer Peter Attia, one of the 19 contributors that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss brought on as part of her plan to present a wider variety of voices on the platform. 
Symbolic.ai forms a partnership with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in the newsrooms of News Corp publications to augment research, writing and publishing... Mediaite launches a newsletter that promises to give readers a summary of—media newsletters... The Fund for American Studies launches the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, a program that will provide promising young journalists the opportunity to work alongside top writers, reporters, and media professionals.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
