The New York Times makes most of its money from reader subscriptions: in fiscal 2025 subscriptions brought in $1.95 billion of its $2.82 billion revenue, advertising $566.0 million and affiliate, licensing and other revenue $308.1 million. Its engine is the digital bundle of news, The Athletic, Games, Cooking, Wirecutter and Audio; the company had about 12.78 million subscribers at the end of 2025 and about 13.76 million at the end of the third quarter of 2026.
Of 12.21 million digital-only subscribers at the end of 2025, about 6.48 million had a bundle or several products. Digital-only ARPU was $9.68 per 28-day cycle in fiscal 2025.
03
Advertising
Advertising earned $566.0 million in fiscal 2025, up 11.8%, with digital advertising up 20.0% to $410.6 million.
04
Affiliate, licensing and other
This line earned $308.1 million in fiscal 2025. It includes Wirecutter referral fees and licensing of content to aggregators and third-party digital platforms.
What changed in 2025-26
Suing the AI companies
The Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI in December 2023 and Perplexity on 5 December 2025, alleging copyright infringement over the use of its journalism (NYT 10-K, fiscal 2025). It recorded $13.3 million of generative-AI litigation costs in 2025.
Naming AI as a competitor
The 10-K lists chatbots and other generative-AI products from Apple, Alphabet, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Perplexity and X among the products it competes with for audience and subscriptions.
Subscribers keep rising
Total subscribers reached about 13.76 million at the end of September 2026, and third-quarter 2026 revenue rose 9.7% to $768.5 million (NYT Q3 2026 results). The company aims for 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027.
Operating profit rose 22.9% to $431.6 million in fiscal 2025 and free cash flow was $550.5 million. The chief executive frames the strategy as human-made journalism people seek out directly.
The New York Times revenue lines, fiscal 2025 (10-K)
Publishers: use free daily habits (games, recipes) as the top of a paid funnel, not as the product.
Product teams: price the bundle above single products; the Times reports higher ARPU for bundle subscribers.
AI builders: expect content owners to litigate or license; budget for licensed data rather than assuming free access.
Investors: track subscriber net adds and digital ARPU together; growth from discounts can hide falling price.
Marketers: treat referral traffic from search and AI platforms as rented, and build direct relationships.
The Business Engineer lens
The Times treats its journalism as an asset to defend in court and to license on its own terms, while its bundle builds direct demand that does not depend on search or chatbots. The Business Engineer view is that in AI media the scarce asset is the direct relationship with the reader.
Mostly from subscriptions, which brought in $1.95 billion of its $2.82 billion revenue in fiscal 2025; advertising added $566.0 million and affiliate, licensing and other revenue $308.1 million.
How many subscribers does The New York Times have?
About 12.78 million at the end of 2025 and about 13.76 million at the end of September 2026, according to the company.
Is The New York Times suing AI companies?
Yes. It sued Microsoft and OpenAI in December 2023 and Perplexity in December 2025, alleging unauthorised copying and use of its journalism.
What is the Times's subscriber target?
The company aims to reach 15 million total subscribers by the end of 2027.
The complete explainer, cleaned up and reformatted for mobile.
How we source: figures on this page come from the company’s own filings (SEC 10-K, 10-Q and earnings releases, or its annual report), with the period stated next to each number. Last refreshed October 2026. Our methodology.
In short
The New York Times makes most of its money from readers. In 2025 subscriptions brought in $1.95bn of its $2.82bnrevenue, with advertising adding $566.0m. It ended the year with about 12.78 million subscribers, 12.21 million of them digital-only.
How The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) makes money, FY2025: the income statement as a flow, to scale. Subscriptions bring in 69% of the Times's $2.82bn revenue.. Source: The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (filed 2026-02-27). Gross profit, margins and shares calculated.Drawing by The Business Engineer.
Watch (66 seconds): The New York Times: where the money comes from, step by step, with captions. Figures from the filing named at the end.
What drives the New York Times’s revenue
Subscriptions earned $1.95bn in 2025, 69% of revenue. Digital-only subscriptions, sold as a bundle of news, The Athletic, Games, Cooking, Wirecutter and Audio or as single products, earned $1.43bn, up 14.3%. Print subscriptions earned $516.4m, down 3.2%.
The New York Times revenue by fiscal year, FY2021 to FY2025, from the company's filings. Chart: The Business Engineer.
Advertising brought in $566.0m, up 11.8%. Digital advertising rose 20.0% to $410.6m as display impressions grew 19% and rates 6%. Affiliate, licensing and other revenue, including Wirecutter referrals and licensing deals with digital platforms, was $308.1m.
How the New York Times compares
Revenue has grown every year for five years, from $2.07bn in 2021 to $2.82bn in 2025. Subscription revenue grew from $1.36bn in 2021 to $1.95bn in 2025.
Bundle subscribers are worth more than single-product subscribers. Bundle and multiproduct ARPU was $12.67 per 28 days in 2025, against $3.47 for other single-product subscribers. Total digital-only ARPU was $9.68.
What changed in FY2025
Operating profit rose 22.9% to $431.6m and the operating margin widened to 15.3% from 13.6%. Net income rose 17.1% to $344.0m. The company added about 1.4 million digital-only subscribers.
The New York Times revenue by line, prior year against FY2025, as reported. Chart: The Business Engineer.
From the third quarter of 2025 it reports a single segment. It recorded $13.3m of costs on lawsuits over the use of its journalism to build generative-AI products. It aims to reach 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027.
What to watch
The company says generative AI has hurt, and will continue to hurt, its ability to attract audiences, subscribers, advertisers and licensees. Traffic also depends on referrals from search, social and AI platforms.
Print subscription and advertising revenue keep falling, and the company does not expect that to reverse. About 43% of its roughly 6,000 full-time-equivalent staff are unionised.
Frequently asked questions
How does the New York Times make money?
Mostly from subscriptions, which brought in $1.95bn of its $2.82bn revenue in 2025. Advertising added $566.0m and affiliate, licensing and other revenue $308.1m.
How many subscribers does the New York Times have?
About 12.78 million at the end of 2025, including about 12.21 million digital-only subscribers, of whom about 6.48 million had a bundle or several products.
How much does a digital subscriber pay the New York Times?
Total digital-only ARPU was $9.68 per 28-day billing cycle in 2025, up 2.7%. Bundle and multiproduct subscribers averaged $12.67.
Is the New York Times profitable?
Yes. Operating profit was $431.6m in 2025, a 15.3% margin, and net income was $344.0m. Free cash flow was $550.5m.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
