Times exceeds 100k digital subscibers

The publisher said trends are positive, with users of its digital editions, which have been behind a paywall since July 2010, having increased by 28% in the past three months alone.

The combined sites attracted 101,306 monthly digital subscribers by the end of June. The figure includes subscribers to all digital channels, including the websites, the iPad and the Kindle.

The Times is downloaded onto an average of 35,000 iPads every day, an increase of 40% in the four months since February. The average for The Sunday Times is 31,000, an increase of 41%.

The current digital subscriber figures are up by 20,000 from the end of March, where the site attracted 79,000 paid readers, a 60% increase from November 2010.

The papers’ digital growth is in contrast to its print edition which suffered a decline in readers month on the month, according to the latest ABC figures. The Times was down by 1% to 446,684.

Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, said: "We have more committed subscribers than ever before and they are choosing to access our journalism in whatever format suits them best.

"The growth rate for take up on tablets is moving at pace and we believe this valuable and attractive audience accessing our digital products will continue to grow."

Speaking at Media 360, the media conference run by Brand Republic, in Manchester recently, Paul Hayes, managing director of commercial at News International said introducing the paywall would make the company fiscally better off by the end of the next financial year than if it had remained on an ad-funded model.

This week, News International said it would be looking to create efficiencies in its operation where there is crossover between its papers.

It has created a new structure of managing editors that operate across the Sun and News of the World and Times and Sunday Times to drive through changes.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk