At The New York Times Company, Print Declines Vs. Online Gains Is Practically Equal
In a relative fashion, yesterday's earnings report from The New York Times Company (NYT) was good news. The beleaguered (like virtually all of its competitors) newspaper company is finally moving to a place where gains in digital ad revenue are offsetting declines in print ad revenue dollar-for-dollar, and that should be a small relief to all those who care about the company's future.
The precise numbers are a little fuzzy -- because the NYTCo., while happy to crow about an increase of 21.2 percent to $82.4 million in Internet ad revenue -- wasn't quite so enthusiastic about releasing what print ad revenue was, and calculations printed elsewhere online vary. The company did say that print declined by 6.1 percent, which, by my calculations meant print ad revenue came in at slightly above $230 million. That percentage decline means that print lost about what online gained, or roughly $15 million on both sides of the ledger.
I wouldn't start buying shares in the company, but it's still encouraging. A year ago, overall advertising at the company was down by more than 20 percent, and Internet ad revenues declined by 15 percent. Sadly, the Internet's sagging performance at that time was still good enough that the percentage of company revenue coming from online grew, increasing from 13.4 percent to 12.3 percent. The percentage is still increasing -- it currently stands at 16 percent -- but part of the reason is that Internet revenue is increasing. Since digital is where the company is headed, that's a better place to be.
And Q2 Internet revenues, which, increased by 20 percent to almost $95 million, should begin to see incremental growth from some new revenue streams soon too. The company's closely-watched move to construct a paywall around some of its content will launch in January. It is also looking at adding a paid iPad app. As with the increases in digital advertising, these moves are not going to make the Times what it was -- I certainly agree with my BNET colleague, Jim Edwards, on that front -- but in 2010, as opposed to last year, it's possible to imagine a future for the Gray Lady, aided by a spry new set of revenue streams to prop her up.
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