NYT stock drops 12% as it added fewer than expected digital subscribers in Q2

The New York Times NYT shares fell more than 12% in trading on Wednesday after the publisher reported slower-than-expected digital subscriber growth for the second quarter and issued a weaker-than-anticipated outlook for digital subscription revenue.

The media company added about 280,000 net digital-only subscribers during the quarter, below analysts' average estimate of 295,300 compiled by Visible Alpha.

The figure also marked a slowdown from the 310,000 digital subscribers added in the previous quarter.

The Times ended the quarter with approximately 13.35 million subscribers across its print and digital products, including about 12.8 million digital-only subscribers.

Compared with a year earlier, digital-only subscriptions increased by roughly 1.5 million.

Investors also reacted to the company's guidance, with the publisher forecasting digital-only subscription revenue growth of between 12% and 15% for the current quarter.

The midpoint of that range fell below analysts' expectations of 14.2%.

Advertising business remains resilient

While subscriber growth softened, advertising remained a bright spot.

Total advertising revenue rose 11.3% year over year to $149.1 million, exceeding analyst estimates of $146.4 million.

Digital advertising revenue climbed 20.7% to $114 million, supported by strong marketer demand and increased advertising inventory, while print advertising revenue declined 11.1% to $35.2 million.

Print subscription revenue also continued to weaken, slipping 0.8% to $130 million, primarily because of lower single-copy sales and weaker domestic home-delivery revenue.

The results highlight the growing importance of digital advertising and subscriptions as traditional print revenues continue to decline.

Publishers face increasing competition

The New York Times continues to operate in an increasingly competitive digital media environment, where publishers are contending with changing reader habits, declining trust in news and growing disruption from artificial intelligence platforms.

Large technology companies and AI-powered search tools have increasingly affected referral traffic to publishers' websites, while competition for readers has intensified among digital-first outlets including Axios, CNN and The Verge.

To strengthen subscriber loyalty, the Times has continued bundling its core journalism with lifestyle-focused products such as product review site Wirecutter, sports publication The Athletic and gaming offerings including Wordle.

The strategy has helped the company outperform several legacy newspaper peers despite the latest slowdown in subscriber additions.

NYT remains resilient against a challenging backdrop

Despite Wednesday's decline, New York Times shares remain up more than 8% this year.

The company has also attracted support from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

Regulatory filings show Berkshire initially disclosed ownership of about 5.07 million Times shares worth roughly $351.7 million at the end of 2025.

By mid-2026, the conglomerate had expanded its holding to more than 15.1 million shares, representing roughly a 9.4% ownership stake.

The Times' relative resilience stands in contrast with several other major US newspapers that have struggled with falling traffic and mounting financial pressure.

Earlier this year, The Washington Post announced plans to cut roughly one-third of its workforce while scaling back coverage of sports and international news.

Explaining the reductions, Executive Editor Matt Murray said the newspaper's online traffic had fallen sharply over the past three years amid the rise of artificial intelligence and acknowledged the publication was "too rooted in a different era."