LA Times Adds 13,000 Digital Subscriptions Since January – But Cancellations Are Triple That

Despite having new ownership and a revitalized editorial staff, the Los Angeles Times has fallen short of its digital subscription goal this year, netting just 13,000 new subscriptions since January. According to a staff memo obtained by Poynter, the Times’ executive editor, Norm Pearlstine, and managing editor, Scott Kraft, said that the paper gained 52,000 subscriptions in the first half of this year — but lost 39,000 subscribers in the process, three times more than its net gain. With less than 170,000 total digital subscriptions to date, the Times is still far from its goal of reaching 300,000 digital subscribers by the end of this year. “Performance for the first half of the year … has been disappointing,” said the memo, noting: “Our future depends on rapid and substantial subscription revenue growth.” Like other regional papers competing on a national stage, the Times is in the process of converting its past successes with print subscriptions into a sustainable digital future. According to a Nieman Lab analysis, East Coast heavyweights like the New York Times and the Washington Post have been able to do so successfully, boasting a total of 2.7 million and 1.7 million digital subscriptions, respectively, this year. Also...