Snapshot · Freakonomics Radio
The New York Times launched its digital subscription model in 2011, earlier than many realized, well ahead of its 2015 pivot to a subscription-first strategy.
Where this was said
At 26:00 · chapter starts 23:09
Alex Hardiman has been at The New York Times since 2006, starting in product marketing and advertising. She recalls her first week on the job included figuring out how to sell sponsorships for the Freakonomics blog. By the time Dubner is interviewing her, she's Chief Product Officer of one of the world's most-watched digital media pivots. Ten to eleven years ago, she says candidly, the Times was playing defense: only about 1 million digital subscribers, a shrinking newsroom of about 1,300 journalists, and no clear path to growth. The newspaper monopoly that had long supported the business — classifieds for jobs, real estate, cars, legal notices — had been shattered by Craigslist, then gutted further by Web 2.0 search and social. Many news organizations chased traffic by unbundling their content. The Times decided in 2015 to go the opposite direction: subscription-first, destination-first, and built on direct reader relationships — though Hardiman notes the digital paywall actually launched in 2011.
A decade ago, the NYT had only 1 million digital subscribers, a shrinking newsroom of 1,300 journalists, and no clear path to growth. The pivot to subscription-first, powered in part by games like Wordle, has taken them to nearly 13 million — with a target of 15 million by 2027.
About 10-11 years ago the NYT had a shrinking newsroom of about 1,300 journalists; since then subscription growth has enabled significant expansion.
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Bhanu grew SiteGPT to $13,000 monthly recurring revenue entirely through organic channels, spending nothing on paid marketing.
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