New York Times tops estimates for subscriber adds on strong demand, bundling efforts

Nov 5 (Reuters) - The New York Times added more than double the number of digital subscribers than Wall Street had expected in the third quarter, as consumers flocked to its website to keep track of the rapidly changing global political and economic landscape.

The publisher NYT.N on Wednesday also forecast strong subscription revenue growth for the fourth quarter, benefiting from its strategy of bundling its core news offerings with podcasts, games like Wordle, lifestyle and sports-related content into one package.

Shares of the Times, which won four Pulitzer awards this year, rose about 4% in premarket trading.

Increased global tensions, President Donald Trump's flip-flopping trade policies and deepening public concern about wars and climate change have prompted the public to keep a close tab on global affairs, propping up news consumption in the United States.

The company has also tried to expand its video and audio coverage to tap into more customers - it has made efforts to produce more news videos and full-length shows including video versions of podcasts like 'The Ezra Klein Show'.

NYT added about 460,000 digital-only subscribers in the quarter ended September, soaring past estimates of 214,500, according to Visible Alpha. The figure was also much higher than the 230,000 additions in the prior quarter.

That took its total subscriber count to more than 12.3 million, surpassing the 12 million milestone for the first time. The company aims for 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027.

More than half of its digital-only subscribers were on its bundle subscription or on multiple products, which the company has said would help boost engagement and subscription revenues.

It expects total subscription revenue to rise 8% to 10% in the fourth quarter, compared with estimates for an 8% increase, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Its total subscription revenue increased a better-than-expected 9.1% to $494.6 million in the third quarter.