The Times has seen subscriptions sales jump 200 percent in the last year, since it pivoted from publishing on a breaking-news cycle to a digital editions-based publishing strategy a year ago. Subscriber churn is also at a record low, down 4 percentage points compared to the previous year, according to Catherine Newman, chief marketing officer at The Times and Sunday Times. Last summer, total print and digital paying subscribers rested at 413,600, according to the publisher. And in the first half of 2016, new paying-subscriber sales rose 200 percent compared to the first half of 2015.
That growth is partly thanks to a shake-up to the digital marketing processes as much as shifting its editorial approach. “The editions-based strategy fundamentally changed how we worked in the marketing team, with our focus now on the 9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. editions,” said Newman.