New York Times Q2 Earnings Rise as Subscriptions Jump 9.6% Year-Over-Year

Strong Performance in Q2 2025 for The New York Times Company

The New York Times Company (NYT) delivered a solid performance during the second quarter of 2025, showcasing consistent growth across multiple areas. Adjusted earnings per share reached 58 cents, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 50 cents. This marks an increase from the previous year’s adjusted earnings of 45 cents. Total revenues amounted to $685.9 million, which exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $669 million and represented a 9.7% year-over-year increase.

Digital Subscribers Continue to Grow

One of the key drivers of this success was the continued expansion of digital-only subscribers. The company added approximately 230,000 net digital-only subscribers during the quarter, reflecting the strength of its digital offerings. This growth is attributed to the variety of products available across the company's portfolio.

Additionally, the average revenue per user (ARPU) for digital-only subscriptions increased to $9.64 in the second quarter, up from $9.34 in the same period last year. This rise can be attributed to subscribers moving from promotional pricing to higher-tier plans, as well as strategic price increases for long-term users.

Subscription Revenues Show Significant Growth

Subscription revenues totaled $481.4 million, representing a 9.6% year-over-year increase. Within this, digital-only subscription revenues surged by 15.1% to $350.4 million. This growth was driven by increased bundle and multi-product subscriptions, along with rising revenues from single-product subscriptions. However, news-only subscription revenues saw a decline.

Print subscription revenues decreased by 2.8% to $131.1 million, primarily due to lower domestic home-delivery revenues. As of the end of the quarter, the company had 11.88 million total subscribers across print and digital products, including 11.30 million digital-only subscribers. Of those, 6.02 million were part of bundle or multi-product subscriptions.

Looking ahead, management anticipates third-quarter total subscription revenue growth of 8-10%, with digital-only subscription revenues expected to rise by 13-16%.

Advertising Revenue Grows, Despite Print Decline

Total advertising revenues for the quarter reached $134 million, a 12.4% increase compared to the prior year. Digital advertising revenues rose significantly by 18.7% to $94.4 million, fueled by strong demand from marketers and new advertising opportunities. In contrast, print advertising revenues declined slightly by 0.1% to $39.6 million.

For the third quarter, the company expects a low-to-mid-single-digit increase in total advertising revenues, with digital advertising revenues projected to grow by a low-double-digit rate.

Additional Revenue Streams Perform Well

Affiliate, licensing, and other revenues jumped 5.8% year over year to $70.5 million, driven by higher Wirecutter affiliate referral revenues and increased licensing income. Management anticipates a high-single-digit increase in these revenues for the third quarter.

Adjusted operating costs rose by 6.1% to $552.1 million in the quarter. However, the company expects adjusted operating costs to increase by 5-6% in the third quarter. Despite this, the total adjusted operating profit grew by 27.8% to $133.8 million, with the adjusted operating margin expanding by 280 basis points to 19.5%.

Segment-Wise Performance Highlights

The New York Times Group saw revenues increase by 8.1% year over year to $632.4 million. Subscription revenues rose 9% to $446.8 million, driven by growth in digital-only subscriptions, partially offset by a decline in print subscription revenues. Advertising revenues increased by 7% to $119.9 million, largely due to higher digital advertising income.

The Athletic segment also performed well, with total revenues reaching $54 million, a 33.4% increase from the previous year. Subscription revenues rose to $34.6 million from $29.3 million, while advertising revenues jumped to $14.1 million from $7.1 million.

Financial Health Remains Strong

As of the end of the quarter, The New York Times Company held $951.5 million in cash and marketable securities, up from $911.9 million at the end of 2024. Capital expenditures for the quarter were approximately $10 million, with management forecasting $40 million in capital expenditures for 2025.

In addition, the company repurchased 460,136 shares of its Class A common stock for $23.6 million during the quarter. As of August 1, 2025, about $422.2 million remained authorized for future share repurchases.

Other Stocks to Watch

While The New York Times Company continues to perform strongly, other stocks are also worth considering. StoneCo Ltd. (STNE), Penguin Solutions, Inc. (PENG), and Elastic N.V. (ESTC) all hold Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) designations, with strong earnings surprises and positive growth projections.