News UK has announced a new digital milestone with The Times and The Sunday Times surpassing 300,000 digital-only paid subscribers, of an overall total of 539,000 subscribers and some five million registered access users.
Digital-only subscriber numbers are up 19 per cent year-on-year at the end of June 2019, to 304,000, in the most successful year since The Times and The Sunday Times launched a digital subscription model in 2010, News UK said.
It was announced last year that digital subscribers had overtaken print ones for the first time with subscribers in 120 countries and registered users in every country in the world.
The latest PAMCo data, from June 2019, reveals a total brand reach of 8.6 million adults each month for the two titles, up 6.5 per cent year on year. Of this total, five million adults read digitally, spending an average of 28 minutes a day on the Times smartphone app, up 25 per cent year-on-year.
Chris Duncan, TNL managing director, said: “The Times and The Sunday Times continue to show that people value quality journalism and are prepared to pay a premium for news they can trust.
“We’re delighted to have had another successful year in terms of digital growth, attracting new subscribers in the UK and across the globe. We invest in the news service to build both frequency and loyalty among our readers. We continue to marry the practices of world class journalism with innovations like our AI powered ‘digital butler’ that helps people navigate the news that matters.”
In a recent speech to the Society of Editors, John Witherow, editor of The Times, said: “Ten years ago The Times pursued its own course…the paywall succeeded because we established a price for digital journalism. We recruited subscribers. We turned a profit. And we continued to invest in the highest quality journalism. This might seem obvious now but it is only with hindsight that we see that we were years ahead of our rivals.
“[The industry is] still an exciting place to be. It always will be. The task is to adapt to the new technology, to make it our friend, to put it at the service of our journalism.”
