New York Times beats revenue estimates on higher digital subscriptions

(Reuters) – The New York Times Co beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue on Thursday, as more people subscribed to its digital news products during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shares of the publisher were up nearly 4% before the bell.

The company has been focusing on its subscription-based news, crossword and podcast products for years to cut its reliance on advertising revenue and offset a decline in print readership.

Advertising sales have been unpredictable as companies slashed ad budgets to cope with a sharp drop in business due to cronavirus-led lockdowns.

Revenue from subscription rose 12.6% to $300.95 million in the third quarter, while ad revenue dropped 30.2% to $79.25 million, the company said.

Total revenue fell 0.4% to $426.9 million, but came in above analysts’ estimates of $411.8 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Ayanti Bera and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)