It seems that the NYT has at least attempted to make some progresses in finding a more sustainable business model as opposed to remain status quo, in which falling advertising revenues and printing subscriptions are industry norms. A comparison of digital subscriptions between 227,000 from the 2007 TimeSelect trial and 390,000 from the current paywall (by February 2012) has suggested a sign of a more successful model at present. In addition, the paper announced 70% of traditional print subscription audiences have registered for the digital access over 10 months since the new paywall was implemented, and that, overall, indicates an enormous potential for the digital subscription growth in the future – a habitual change from print to digital copies among readers. Extra revenues can be generated from this habitual change not only from digital subscriptions alone, but also cost savings to deliver digital copies than print ones. A consistent growth of online advertising by 5% was also reported in Q4 2011 for the News Media Group, combining the current and potential growths mentioned above, we consider the NYT has found a strategy that is working for them at the present time.

However, despite some bolstering figures above, the NYT’s low subscription ratio among online readers (i.e. less than 25% of its 1.1 million site users subscribed for digital contents) remains a concern whether it can attract new digital subscriptions over long term. Further, the NYT’s high subscription fees, compared to other digital content providers such as the WSJ and the Economist, become a major deterrent to further expand the subscription pool, particularly for readers with broad interests in general news, which are readily attainable from other cost effective sources. We conclude that while the numbers speak for an interim success of the NYT, the true and future success may be too early,