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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.
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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.
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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.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Kenneth Weinstein, former head of the conservative Hudson Institute, as ombudsman for CBS News.
