NYT grew from ~1M to ~13M digital subscribers
The New York Times grew from about 1 million digital subscribers roughly a decade ago to nearly 13 million today, targeting 15 million by 2027.
Snapshot · Freakonomics Radio
675. Has the New York Times Become a Games Company?
Explore episode
May 15, 2026
Where this was said
Games, News, and the Solar System Strategy
At 35:54 · chapter starts 33:10
Dubner offers a provocateur's hypothesis: if Wordle disappeared tomorrow, readers would storm the barricades, but if the Times stopped covering geopolitics, fewer people would notice. Hardiman disagrees firmly — 'I think you're really wrong' — and invokes the solar system analogy that defines the Times' internal strategy: news is the sun, giving light and permission to everything else. Games attract tens of millions of daily players and bring new readers into contact with the Times' journalism, creating a flywheel. But games don't generate the audience, engagement, or revenue that news does. Hardiman also addresses a journalist friend's complaint — that there's more 'pop' attached to games than to serious reporting — calling it a privilege to ensure that games revenue cycles back into the newsroom first. The Times is targeting 15 million subscribers by 2027; it currently stands at nearly 13 million.
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