For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague, Angela Fu.
Fresh off a solid quarterly report, New York Times CEO and president Meredith Kopit Levien wanted to make one thing clear to investors: The Times would not be hindered by the ongoing economic turmoil.
“Our strategy is working and our business is growing and demonstrating resilience amidst the current economic and geopolitical uncertainty,” Kopit Levien said during an earnings call Wednesday. She cited three factors: the Times’ multiple revenue streams, its ability to generate “significant” free cash flow, and its diverse portfolio, which includes both journalism and lifestyle offerings like its Cooking and Games verticals.
“Taken together, these points mean we see running room in every direction, and we’re confident we’re continuing to build a larger and more profitable New York Times,” Kopit Levien said.
As a couple of investors asked questions about the newspaper’s ability to navigate the current economic environment — which has been in a tailspin since Trump unveiled an extensive plan for tariffs on dozens of countries — Times leaders remained adamant that the outlet’s strategy was working. At one point, chief financial officer Will Bardeen said the impact of the tariffs on the Times’ business has been “immaterial.”
The Times reported an adjusted operating profit of $92.7 million during its first quarter, up 21.9% from the same period last year. It also grew its total revenue 7.1% to roughly $636 million. That growth included a 12.4% increase in digital advertising revenue — the Times’ highest growth rate in that category in three years.
The Times also reported that it spent $4.4 million last quarter on its generative artificial intelligence lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement.
For the third quarter in a row, sports site The Athletic posted a profit. Its adjusted operating profit for the last quarter was $2.9 million, up from a loss of $8.7 million during the same period last year.
The Athletic’s total revenue increased nearly 30% year-over-year to $47.6 million. That included increases in subscription, affiliate, licensing and other revenues. It also included an 82.5% increase in advertising revenue to $10.4 million.
OAN to VOA?
Things keep getting stranger with the Voice of America.
President Donald Trump has essentially tried to dismantle (or at least whack away at) the longstanding and well-respected media outlet that has promoted democracy and transparency across the globe since World War II. Now, it appears that it will air the one thing it has always fought against: propaganda.
Kari Lake — a senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA — announced it will offer the pro-Trump, pro-conservative One America News to Voice of America's foreign audiences.
In a social media post Tuesday night, Lake said the idea came about after a suggestion by the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which is a part of USAGM. Lake said OCM suggested “we explore OAN as a newsfeed option for the Miami-based, U.S. Government-funded news operation broadcasting to Cuba. At their suggestion, I reached out to OAN, and they offered to provide their newsfeed and video service free-of-charge.
“This is an enormous benefit to the American taxpayer, who is the sole-source of funding for USAGM's news outlets, which broadcast only to international audiences.”
Lake added, “In my current role as Senior Advisor to USAGM, I don't have editorial control over the content of VOA and OCB programming, but I can ensure our outlets have reliable and credible options as they work to craft their reporting and news programs.”
As you would expect, the news that VOA would offer a right-wing, biased network such as OAN did not go over well with VOA staffers.
Steve Herman, chief national correspondent for VOA, was quoted by The Washington Post’s Jeremy Barr as saying, “VOA is not to be the voice of left America nor the voice of right America. USAGM cannot dictate (that) VOA run OAN content. It would be a violation of our fire wall and our charter, which are laws.”
VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara and press freedom editor Jessica Jerreat, who are suing the government over the executive order to dismantle VOA, said in a statement, “Congress mandated VOA to report reliable and authoritative news, not to outsource its journalism to outlets aligned with the president’s agenda. VOA already has talented and professional journalists ready to tell America’s story in line with the VOA Charter, but we are blocked from our own newsroom. That is why we will continue fighting for our rights in court.”
Former U.S. Agency for Global Media chief financial officer Grant Turner told NPR’s David Folkenflik, “Kari Lake providing One America News Network to our global audiences makes a mockery of the agency's history of independent non-partisan journalism.”
Speaking of Voice of America, check out this story from The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino: “‘Maduro did not close our bureau – Trump did’: Voice of America journalists speak out.”
Name your price
We will soon find out the name of ESPN’s soon-to-be-offered director-to-consumer product. More importantly, we’ll find out how much it will cost.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said during an earnings call Wednesday that a new name is expected to be revealed by ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro next week. Up until now, it had just been called “Flagship.”
Iger said on the call, “By the way, it will not be called that, and next week, Jimmy Pitaro plans to reveal not only the name, but he’ll also talk about it, our pricing strategy. But the plan would be to basically be somewhat agnostic from a subscriber perspective, so that we can still do our best to preserve the multi-channel ecosystem.”
Awful Announcing’s Daniel Kaplan notes that Disney’s annual programming showcase is scheduled for May 13, so that likely would be the perfect time for Pitaro to announce the direct-to-consumer name and pricing.
Kaplan added, “The soon-not-to-be-named flagship app is expected to cost between $25 and $30 a month, and is touted as boasting features like betting and fantasy integration not available to the linear consumer. That price would place the new ESPN app in the higher range of sports app prices, though definitely not exorbitant. Iger did not mention a launch date, though it is widely expected sometime before the start of the college football and NFL regular seasons.”
Kelly’s big jump
Interesting numbers from TheRighting and its look at how right-wing podcasts performed in the first quarter of 2025.
“The Ben Shapiro Show” (749,742 subscribers) and “The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast” (436,002) lead the way. But coming up fast in third is Megyn Kelly. Her 134,590 subscriber count is a stunning 176% jump from the first quarter of 2024.
Howard Polskin, president of TheRighting, said in a statement, “Since endorsing Donald Trump the night before the November 2024 election, the popularity of Megyn Kelly’s podcast has soared exponentially and it shows in hockey stick growth on the Castbox platform. There’s clearly a growing audience for her MAGA-friendly point-of-view and she has ridden the Trump wave perfectly since his January 20 inauguration. It’s no wonder that she is extending her brand and creating an entire podcast network with like-minded voices.”
