(New York) The New York Times on Wednesday launched a new audio app for its subscribers, the first service of its kind bringing together its podcasts like The Daily, read articles and its cooking recipes.
This app, available on Apple’s iPhone operating system, iOS, “now allows our audience to take The Times with them at times when reading isn’t an option, like dog walks or commuting.” , explained Stephanie Preiss, vice president of The New York Times Audio.
Contacted, a spokesperson did not indicate a date for a presence on Android.
On the menu of The New York Times Audio, already existing podcasts, such as The Daily, which dissects a current topic every day, but also a daily newspaper, articles read, sports topics from The Athletic site, bought in 2022 by the New York Times, or a selection of cooking recipes, books or TV and streaming programs.
With this new offer, free but reserved for the newspaper’s digital subscribers, the New York daily strengthens its presence in the audio journalism sector, which has experienced a revolution since the launch of podcasts.
The New York Times had already acquired the production company behind the crime investigation podcast series Serial in 2020, which will be available in its new app.
As for the Daily, it had, at the end of 2022, 129 million downloads per month, according to the New York Times. The newspaper claims more than 9 million subscribers (internet and paper combined).
The company has been seeking for several years to diversify its offer and has successfully launched subscriptions to cooking recipes (NYT Cooking) or to an online gaming platform, including the Wordle word game.
The takeover of The Athletic in early 2022 for $550 million allows the newspaper to target 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027.
