The advertising problem at the New York Times continues – and it may only get worse.
Overall, ad revenue dropped 2.1% in the last three months of 2014. The main culprit was a big dive in advertising in print, which fell 9.2%. Digital showed a healthy gain (19.3%), but it wasn’t enough.
The company said to expect another decline this quarter.
Print advertising still accounts for the lion’s share of the Times’ ad business.
In this challenging media economy, outlets both new and old have turned to traditionally unconventional methods to make up for the advertising shortfall. The Times is no different.
Last month, Dean Baquet, the newspaper’s executive editor, said in a memo that he’s been working more closely with advertising salespeople and suggested that the Times could trot out a regular ad-sponsored feature — practices that have been resisted by many old school journalists.
“This is tricky territory, but some of the best news organizations in the world have already navigated it,” Baquet said.
Baquet also used the memo to reiterate his commitment to the Times’ digital initiatives, and on Tuesday, the company announced some gains on that front.
Revenue from digital-only subscriptions went up by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, with the number of digital-only subscribers eclipsing 900,000 by the end of the quarter.
Between that increase in digital subscribers and a jump in home-delivery prices, the company said it “more than offset a decline in print copies sold.”
It’s too early to say what Wednesday’s report will do to the company’s stock. The stock suffered a serious blow in October after the company braced investors for another fall in ad spending.
