Tough Times: NY Times Stock Price Drops as Company Reports Declines in Advertising Revenue

The New York Times stocks fell by 7 percent to $29.61 in early trading on Wednesday after the company reported third-quarter declines in advertising.

According to a report by the NY Times, the media company reported that advertising revenue for print is down 9.7 percent compared to the third quarter of 2018 and down 17.2 percent for digital ads. Third-quarter digital advertising this year decreased 5.4 percent, while print advertising dropped 7.9 percent.

Despite the companys stock and ad revenue taking a big hit, the company announced it had added 273,000 new online subscribers in the third quarter, bringing it to a total of 4 million digital-only subscribers.

It also has 4.9 million total subscriptions, 500,000 of which are outside of the United States, the report states.

The company said it expects digital advertising to remain “challenging” this quarter and added that changes made to limit tracking of its users data by advertisers is affecting its ad revenue at the moment, The Morning Call reports.

During a phone call with analysts on Nov. 6, NY Times president and CEO Mark Thompson said he hopes to quadruple the number of subscribers outside of the United States to a total of two million or more by 2025.

He also touted the companys latest deal with tech giant Facebook and their new subscription news service, which he said was of “strategic significance.”

According to Facebook, the news service will give its users “more control over the stories they see and the ability to explore a wider range of their news interests, directly within the Facebook app.”

The tech giant said it had surveyed 100,000 people across the United States on which news topics they were most interested in and decided to feature four categories which include, general news, topical news, and diverse and local news.

Speaking of the new deal, Thompson said: “Facebook News should bring new users to The Times. But more important than the immediate financial benefit of the agreement is its strategic significance.

“Although we previously received small payments for participation in various experiments and innovations launched by the digital different digital platforms, this is the first time that a Silicon Valley major has recognized the value of Times journalism to its platform with a substantial multiyear fee.”

The deal comes amid Facebooks admissions that its platform has probleRead More – Source