The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today third-quarter 2020 diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $.20 compared with $.10 in the same period of 2019. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (defined below) was $.22 in the third quarter of 2020 compared with $.12 in the third quarter of 2019.
Operating profit increased to $39.6 million in the third quarter of 2020 from $25.1 million in the same period of 2019 and adjusted operating profit (defined below) increased to $56.5 million from $44.1 million in the prior year, as higher digital-only subscription revenues and lower costs more than offset lower advertising revenues.
Meredith Kopit Levien, president and chief executive officer, The New York Times Company, said, “In this unprecedented moment in the country and the world, our strategy of making journalism worth paying for continues to prove itself out, and our newsroom’s extraordinary work across a range of subjects and formats continues to drive more people to engage with The Times, form a habit, pay and stay.
“For the second quarter running, total digital revenue exceeded print revenue. And for the first time, total digital-only subscription revenue exceeded print subscription revenue, making digital-only subscriptions not just the central engine of the Company’s growth, but on its way to being our largest revenue stream.
“We ended the quarter with approximately 6.9 million total subscriptions, and crossed the 7 million mark in the month of October, an increase of two million digital-only subscriptions over the last year and 393,000 over the last quarter. The news cycle certainly played a role, but as we are increasingly seeing with each passing quarter, so too did the breadth of our coverage and our improving ability to mean more to more people. The continued demand for quality, original, independent journalism across a range of topics makes us even more optimistic about the size of the total market for digital journalism subscriptions and our position in it.”
Total revenues for the third quarter of 2020 decreased 0.4 percent to $426.9 million from $428.5 million in the third quarter of 2019. Subscription revenues increased 12.6 percent to $301.0 million, advertising revenues decreased 30.2 percent to $79.3 million and other revenues decreased 2.0 percent to $46.7 million.
Subscription revenues in the third quarter of 2020 rose due to growth in the number of subscriptions to the Company’s digital-only products, which include our news product, as well as our Cooking, Games (previously Crossword) and audio products. Revenue from digital-only products increased 34.0 percent, to $155.3 million. Print subscription revenues decreased 3.8 percent to $145.7 million largely due to lower retail newsstand revenue, while revenue from our domestic home delivery subscription products grew 2.5 percent.
Total operating costs decreased 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2020 to $387.3 million compared with $401.5 million in the third quarter of 2019, while adjusted operating costs decreased 3.7 percent to $370.4 million from $384.4 million in the third quarter of 2019 as a result of the factors discussed below.
Cost of revenue decreased 3.8 percent to $235.9 million compared with $245.1 million in the third quarter of 2019, largely due to lower print production and distribution and advertising servicing costs, which were partially offset by higher digital content delivery and journalism costs.
more detail at: https://investors.nytco.com/news-and-events/press-releases/#data-item=The-New-York-Times-Company-Reports-2020-Third-Quarter-Results