HOW THEY MAKE MONEY // SEASON 1, EPISODE 23 INTELLIGENCE REPORT
NYT 3/14 ACTIVE GATES

What does the NY Times Really Sell?

On the outside, it is easy to assume that The New York Times makes money by printing daily newspapers and selling digital ads, sponsored placements, and banner campaigns across its news website. That is what is SEEN.

THE SEEN ENGINE
$525.00M

Digital & Print Advertising

The ad revenue generated by selling display ads, programmatic banner placements, and sponsored content across print and digital news pages.

Source: The New York Times Company FY 2025 Form 10-K
THE UNSEEN ENGINE
$1.95B

Reader Subscription Revenues

The recurring monthly fees collected from digital-only bundle subscribers, print home deliveries, and specialty product subscriptions (Games, Cooking, The Athletic).

Source: The New York Times Company FY 2025 Form 10-K

The real wealth is in what is NOT SEEN—how they successfully converted their business into a massive digital subscription utility, generating $1.95B in subscription revenues from 12.78 million members paying monthly recurring fees to access news, NYT Games (Wordle, Connections), NYT Cooking recipes, Wirecutter product guides, and The Athletic sports journalism.

But which money gates does The New York Times Company use to stack this cashflow? Click each ? to reveal how they use that gate.

AGENT // PROFIT OPENER THE SEEN (PHYSICAL/DIGITAL) THE UNSEEN (PHYSICAL/DIGITAL)
1. Products
ACTIVE · SEEN Printed Newspapers Publishing and distributing physical print editions of daily newspapers to home subscribers and retail kiosks. Source: NYT Print operations
—
2. Services — —
3. Access —
4. Attention —
5. Money — —
6. Risk — —
7. Brand — —
STEP 03

Strategic Translation

The underlying economic infrastructure driving this profit extraction design.

01

What is the explicit promise the customer buys?

News feeds packed with global dispatches, opinion pieces, print newspapers, and website banner advertisements.

02

What asset is quietly accumulating as a result?

A trusted journalism brand, proprietary intellectual properties (Wordle), and a loyal base of 12M+ digital subscribers.

STEP 04

Author's Note

PO
Pelumi Ogunmokun FOUNDER // KAMPAIGN LABS

The Personal Take: Do not try to build a pure attention business in a commoditized market (like news or content). Instead, gate your core product (News) behind a subscription paywall (Access - Digital) and continuously acquire or build low-marginal-cost lifestyle utilities (Games, Cooking, Reviews) to bundle into the membership. This increases your average subscription price (ARPU), broadens your market reach, and significantly reduces customer churn by making your subscription a daily habit.

SME Operational Conditions: Use this when you have a core content or information platform that faces high competition, and you want to build a loyal subscriber base with high customer lifetime value.

Local Brand Example: A local city guide blog struggling with banner ad revenues (Services - Digital) launches a local membership club (Access - Digital) for $7/mo. Instead of just offering ad-free articles, they partner with local restaurants to include "NYT-style" utility perks: a curated weekly recipe database from top local chefs, interactive digital word puzzles themed around the city, and exclusive digital shopping discount keys. This bundle drives 3x more subscriptions than a basic ad-free news pass ever could.

Read Next: The 7 Money Gates →
📖 VIEW THE 14 PROFIT OPENERS FRAMEWORK GUIDE ▼
THE FRAMEWORK // FOR REFERENCE

The 14 Profit Openers Explained

Every business extracts revenue through some combination of these 14 channels — 7 openers, each available in a Physical and a Digital medium. Use this as your reading guide.

PROFIT OPENER PHYSICAL CHANNEL DIGITAL CHANNEL
01 Products Physical Product Sales Tangible goods manufactured, packaged, and sold via retail or direct channels. The classic storefront transaction. Digital Product Sales Downloadable assets, software, templates, or digital files sold as a one-time purchase with zero delivery cost.
02 Services Physical Service Delivery In-person labor, consultations, repairs, or expertise delivered at a physical location or on-site. Digital Service Delivery Remote consulting, virtual coaching, online fulfillment, or any service rendered and delivered through digital channels.
03 Access Physical Access Gate Memberships, entry passes, physical loyalty tiers, or location-based access privileges privileges sold on a recurring basis. Digital Access Gate Subscription plans, SaaS tiers, paywalls, or recurring digital membership fees that gate content or functionality.
04 Attention Physical Attention Capture Billboard placements, event sponsorships, in-store brand shelving, or any physical advertising inventory sold to third parties. Digital Attention Capture Ad revenue, sponsored placements, affiliate arbitrage, or monetizing an owned audience's attention through digital channels.
05 Money Physical Money Mechanics Upfront payment collection, deposit structures, or float optimization — holding cash from physical transactions before fulfillment. Digital Money Mechanics Payment processing spreads, digital float, BNPL integrations, or fintech revenue extracted from digital transaction flow.
06 Risk Physical Risk Coverage Extended warranties, in-store protection plans, insurance products, or physical asset guarantees sold alongside the core product. Digital Risk Coverage Digital warranties, SLA upsells, cybersecurity add-ons, or data backup subscriptions that monetize a customer's fear of loss.
07 Brand Physical Brand Licensing Trademark royalties, franchise licensing fees, co-branding deals, or physical branded merchandise sold to third parties. Digital Brand Licensing IP licensing, white-label software deals, digital co-branding arrangements, or platform platform placement fees paid for brand association.