The Athletic

The New York Times and News Corp are case studies in how news publishers are evolving to be less reliant on ad revenue. Both publishers have also increasingly looked to new revenue streams for sustained growth.

While WaPo recently lost 250,000 subscribers due to concerns over its journalistic independence, NYT added 260,000 subscriptions in Q3 thanks largely to the popularity of its non-news offerings.

At The New York Times, paying subscribers come first – an approach that works on advertising side, too. Hear from newly appointed Chief Advertising Officer Joy Robins, who believes that when media has gone astray, it’s because publications didn’t put the reader at the center of their decision.

The mobile web version of Wordle now features interstitial video and display ads that will run after a user clicks “Play” and before the game loads on their screen. The move is part of a broader initiative to expand ad offerings across the company’s portfolio.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The All-In Risk The natural state for digital media monetization isn’t 100% advertising or all subscriptions, but some balance of both. The Athletic couldn’t get by on subscriptions alone, and BuzzFeed News died on the ad-only vine. But media companies are now creating […]

Sebastian Tomich, The Athletic’s chief commercial officer and a longtime fixture in the Times’ ad tech division, believes the Times can use its blueprint for building a publishing business on The Athletic. And he’s also betting that advertising is an easier sell for sports fans than news readers.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Artificial Ads Advertisers can use AI to generate entire TV commercials. Wait, what? Spectrum Reach launched an AI tool on Wednesday that clients can use to input basic company information (name and location), select the desired tone for the commercial and choose one […]

The New York Times’s subscription-focused strategy seems to be paying off amid a downturn in ad revenue. The Times reported 8% YoY revenue growth for Q3 2022, “with subscription revenue growth more than making up for a slight decline in overall advertising,” said President and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Ads Vs. Cachet The New York Times isn’t shy about castigating Meta for its central role in the creeptastic-sounding surveillance economy. But NYT is following the Facebook playbook of acquiring cool, ad-free properties, giving them a few months to acclimate, then plugging them […]

New York Times-owned sports publisher The Athletic introduced display ads on its site and in its app on Monday – but don’t expect to be able to buy these ads on the open web. The goal is to make The Athletic profitable within three years.