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(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
By Jennifer Saba
NEW YORK, May 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The New York Times and CNN are defying Donald Trump's baseless taunts. Both outlets - which the president calls "failing" and "fake news," respectively – reported impressive subscriber and viewer numbers. Political fatigue, however, is among the risks to the recent growth. Advertising trends are scary, too. The companies should be all too familiar with how capricious news cycles can be.
The publisher of the Times said on Wednesday that more than 300,000 people signed up for its digital news products during the first quarter after netting out cancellations. That brings the tally to 2.2 million. The latest gains represented the best quarter of growth since it started the online pay model in 2011.
Meanwhile, CNN reported its most-watched first quarter in 14 years among adults aged 25 to 54. Even more noteworthy, it ranked among the top 10 of all cable networks for its daytime programming.
The politically charged atmosphere, where big U.S. protest marches have become a regular occurrence, has provided a lift to other organizations covering current events. The Economist, ProPublica and local newspapers have seen an uptick in readership and inbound funds.
As good as Trump and his whiplash-inducing policy pronouncements may be for the news business, it only papers over underlying structural cracks. Despite record audiences, the New York Times experienced another 7 percent decline in ad revenue. At Turner, the Time Warner division that houses CNN, it fell 2 percent.
Other factors also could abruptly dampen the enthusiasm that has pushed New York Times shares up 30 percent since November. The hiring of conservative columnist Bret Stephens last month, for example, has caused some readers to cancel their subscriptions. Investors also remain at the whim of the Ochs-Sulzberger family, which controls the company and whose management decisions have sometimes proven controversial.
For CNN, which was founded back in 1980, it was only three years ago that its ratings hit a nadir. Its audience is slightly younger than the one at Fox News, which is mired in scandal-induced upheaval, but aging cable-news watchers are a turnoff for advertisers. The Trump-termed "lamestream media" are on a roll, but it would be foolish for them – or their shareholders – to believe too much in their own headlines.
On Twitter https://twitter.com/jennifersaba
CONTEXT NEWS
- The New York Times Co on May 3 said it added 308,000 net digital news subscriptions in the first quarter, the single best quarter of subscriber growth in its history. That brought total digital-only subscriptions to 2.2 million, 62 percent more than a year ago. Total advertising revenue fell 7 percent year-over-year to $130 million.
- Shares of New York Times Co increased 11 percent in morning trading on Wednesday.
- Separately, Time Warner said on May 3 that in the first quarter its cable news network CNN grew total day ratings 21 percent among adults 25 to 54 and had its most-watched first quarter in 14 years. Advertising revenue at Turner, the division that houses CNN, fell 2 percent in the first quarter to $1.2 billion.
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(Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Martin Langfield)
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