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New York Times Print Ad Sales Sink 14 Percent

New York Times Print Ad Sales Sink 14 Percent

The New York Times revealed a $211,000 loss from the second quarter of 2016 on Thursday. Clearly, ad sales are a continuing problem — one that even the Manhattan-based paper of record isn’t immune from.

Total revenues decreased 2.7 percent to $372.6 million in Q2, mostly due to an 11.7 percent advertising sales drop. That kept the Times from reaching media analysts’ top-line mark of $375.4 million.

Specifically, print ad sales flopped 14.1 percent from the comparable quarter in 2015. Digital merely helped slow the overall impact down, reporting its own 6.8 percent drop year over year.

With adjustments, diluted earnings per share (EPS) of 11 cents hit Wall Street’s forecast right on the nose, though that was down two pennies from last year.

Also Read: Dozens of New York Times Reporters Accept Buyout Offer

“We once again saw a robust quarter in terms of digital subscriber growth, with 51,000 net paid digital-only subscriptions to our news products added in Q2 and growth of 22 percent year-over-year,” president and chief executive officer Mark Thompson said. “Much of our success in building our digital pay model is the result of a renewed effort to clearly communicate the value of Times journalism and our products through mission-related, native messaging to an expanding number of highly engaged readers.”

“Advertising was tougher in the quarter, particularly on the print side,” he continued. “In digital, we saw very strong growth in mobile, video and virtual reality, branded content and programmatic advertising. These were not enough to offset declines in traditional web display in Q2, which led to an overall decline in digital advertising.”

Thompson concluded: “However, we expect that situation to improve in the second half of the year; in fact, we are already seeing a marked turnaround in July. We expect to deliver strong revenue growth from both digital advertising and our digital consumer business in Q3. And finally, in the quarter, we have undertaken a variety of steps to keep our cost base in line and will continue to maintain a mindful eye in this respect.”

The company will hold a conference call for investors at 11 a.m. ET.

Also Read: New York Times Shakes Up Digital Team, Hints at More Changes

Like many newspaper publishers, The New York Times has been hit hard by declining print circulation and ad revenue as well as increased costs in moving to digital operations.

Earlier this month, nearly 50 New York Times journalists accepted a buyout offer to exit the paper in the coming months. The Times had a standing offer and is attempting to trim the staff, which currently stands at about 1,300 employees, according to Poynter.

The deadline to apply for buyouts was July 15, Poynter reported. The News Guild of New York says there were 54 Guild members who applied for the buyout, just one of whom came from outside the paper’s newsroom. Two Guild members reportedly were rejected when they applied and will remain in their current jobs.

In May, the Times announced voluntary buyout packages to members of the newsroom and several other departments. The news came less than a month after the Times denied reports that chairman and publisher Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger Jr.’s team was planning a massive cut in staff by year’s end.

Related stories from TheWrap:

Dozens of New York Times Reporters Accept Buyout Offer

New York Times CEO Teases Print Paper's Demise After 'At Least a Decade' (Video)

New York Times Shakes Up Digital Team, Hints at More Changes