Winners shaping the future – How some

newspaper companies are succeeding and leading

the way

Michael GoldenVice ChairmanThe New York Times Company and Publisher of the IHTUSA

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS

WAN-IFRA KIEV

SEPTEMBER 2012

BEFORE LAUNCHHere’s what our critics were saying:

• “New York Times Paywall: Wishful Thinking or Just Crazy?”

• “5 Reasons Why The New York Times Paywall Will Fail (And Why It’s Really Dumb)”

• “The New York Times Paywall Business Model Is Doomed”

AFTER LAUNCHHere’s what they’re saying now:

“In my wildest dreams when they rolled this out a year ago, I didn’t think they’d be at over 450,000 subscribers a year later. The execution, the threading the needle between free and restricted access and harvesting of its huge unique visitor number has been pretty flawless.”

Douglas Arthur, Evercore PartnersOn the one-year anniversary of the NYT digital subscription business

• More than 500,000 digital-only paid subscribers.

• Retention rates for print subscribers have improved.

• The New York Times Media Group has had revenue growth for five quarters since starting the digital subscription plan.

• It’s been a huge, emotional lift for employees.

• Only modest reductions in unique visitors and pageviews on NYTimes.com.

WHERE WE ARE TODAY

BE CLEAR ON YOUR GOALS.

What are you trying to accomplish? Expanded subscriptions?

Protecting print subscriptions and economics? Giving consumers access on multiple devices?

Increasing revenue?

Our goal: To develop a significant paid-digital subscription plan

because our content warrants it and the business needs it.

#1

ALIGN THE WHOLE ORGANIZATION BEHIND THE EFFORT.

Touches every aspect of the business: Technology, marketing, analytics, finance, editorial, advertising, design, etc.

Your customers expect a wonderful experience and you have to unite to deliver it.

We put almost everything else on hold for 18 months to make sure we got it right.

#2

YOUR READERS KNOW BEST.Customers tell you what they want. Are you listening?

The Times did extensive research on reader needs, usability testing on the product, price and offer testing and

made A/B testing a core competency.

#3

Apple Newsstand release

Cyber Monday promotion

Global pay model launch

iTunes integration

Web access for Kindle users

Gateway to 10

MEU conversions

Groupon Deals

Flipboard collaboration

THINK (AND ACT) LIKE A DIGITAL RETAILER.

Constantly innovate in product enhancements and marketing initiatives

#4

Q2 2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2011 Q1 2012 Q2 2012

ADVERTISING STILL WORKS.#5

OUR GOAL NOW

Optimize for earnings, not singularly focused on subscription volume:

•Digital subscription revenue

•Print subscription revenue

•Digital advertising revenue

WHAT’S NEXT?

Continue driving rapid growth of the digital subscription business

Introduce next generation paid products

Develop an even deeper understanding of our consumers and prospects

Improve user experience to better serve existing subscribers