How The New York Times' Digital Bundle Strategy Is Winning Subscribers

The New York Times Company’s NYT digital bundle strategy has proved effective in attracting and retaining subscribers. In the third quarter of 2025, the company added about 460,000 net digital-only subscribers, bringing total subscribers to 12.33 million. This growth was driven by bundle and multiproduct additions, as well as other single-product offerings. Bundle and multiproduct subscribers reached 6.27 million at the end of the quarter, representing 51% of the total subscriber base.

Engagement with the bundle is also delivering financial benefits through improved monetization. Total digital-only average revenue per user (ARPU) rose 3.6% year over year to $9.79. This increase was driven by subscribers transitioning from promotional rates to higher prices and price increases implemented for certain tenured subscribers. Subscription revenues from digital-only products grew 14% year over year to $367.4 million. This reflects an increase in bundle and multi-product revenues and a rise in other single-product subscription revenues.

Rather than relying solely on news consumption, the bundle integrates journalism with lifestyle and engagement-focused offerings such as Games, Cooking, Audio and sports content from The Athletic. This structure allows subscribers to find value through different daily habits, whether solving puzzles, following sports analysis or listening to podcasts.

By offering a range of high-engagement products under one subscription, The New York Times is strengthening user relationships and growing its digital subscriber base. Management guided for digital-only subscription revenues to rise 13-16% in the final quarter of 2025, reflecting continued momentum in multi-product bundles and subscriber engagement. Total subscription revenues are expected to increase 8-10%.

What the Latest Metrics Say About The New York Times Company

The New York Times Company, which competes with News Corporation NWSA and Thomson Reuters Corporation TRI, has seen its shares rise 34.4% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 29.1%. While shares of News Corporation have declined 5.1%, Thomson Reuters has fallen 19.4% in the said period.
 

From a valuation standpoint, The New York Times Company trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 26.05, higher than the industry’s 25.52. NYT carries a Value Score of D. The New York Times Company is trading at a discount to Thomson Reuters (with a forward 12-month P/E ratio of 29.41) but at a premium to News Corporation (23.40). 
 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for The New York Times Company’s current financial-year sales and earnings per share implies year-over-year growth of 8.8% and 16.9%, respectively. For the next fiscal year, the consensus estimate indicates a 7% rise in sales and 14.3% growth in earnings.
 

The New York Times Company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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