The Times


The Times is undergoing its biggest digital transformation in a decade. The result, outlined below, means we are growing our subscriber base faster than ever, attracting a growing number of female and younger readers. Our strategy rests on five pillars:

Live news coverage:

We have transformed how we cover breaking news. From the invasion of Ukraine to the death of the Queen, our “live articles” combine essential facts, insights from experts, graphics, video and photography. We play to our strengths, prioritising exclusive news lines and analysis over breathless updates. Our live articles have proved hugely popular, almost always ending the day as our most-read and subscribed-for articles. They have been extended to daily political coverage, allowing us to capture the drama of recent government turbulence. Our notifications have an average open rate of 8.6%, more than twice the industry average of 3.5%.

Visual storytelling:

We have enhanced how we tell stories using cutting edge technology. Our guide to the Queen’s funeral was one of our most-read articles of 2022, supported with interactive graphics, powered by Google Earth Pro. Our Gigapixel fish-eye image of the coffin outside Buckingham Palace captured a historic moment in a unique level of detail. We have become significantly more ambitious in our use of video, as outlined by the use of undercover footage for investigations into topics including illicit Botox clinics, work-shy DVLA employees, and parcel-hurling at the delivery service Hermes. We also expanded our use of mini documentaries, including a comprehensive project on “Weapons of War” in Ukraine, combining user-generated videos and graphics.

Multimedia journalism:

The John Cantlie project highlighted the scale of our digital ambition. Veteran war reporter Anthony Lloyd, searching for Cantlie, the long-lost ISIS prisoner, delivered a compelling eight-part podcast series, a video documentary shot in Mosul, interactive graphics and a 10,000-word definitive essay supported by creative design.

Interactive journalism:

Our subscribers publish more than 20,000 comments at the end of articles every day, up 10% from a year earlier, and our embedded polls this year reached record highs, including 250,000 votes cast on “who should succeed Boris Johnson”. Our data tables - ranging from university and school rankings through to Best Places to Live - provided clear data aimed at helping readers make important life decisions.

Digital hub:

Our newsroom has been restructured around a digital hub. Our new hub brings together key digital skills, ranging from planning to editing, video, graphics, photography and homepage curation. This allows us to be more nimble in the crafting and commissioning of major stories.

The results?

Subscriber traffic to the website rose 127% over 12 months. We have grown our digital-only subscriber base by 13%, to 460k. The number of subscribers under 40 grew by more than 22% to 110,000. And the number of female subscribers grew by more than 13% to 200k. Critically, our digital growth means that Times revenue has grown for three consecutive years, helping us to fund the in-depth journalism that defines The Times & The Sunday Times.