Times claims 100,000 digital subscribers after one year

The number of monthly subscribers to the Times and Sunday Times has reached just more than 100,000, a year after the paywall was launched, according to News International.

In a release, the group claims to have 101,036 monthly digital subscribers as of the end of June, up by 28 per cent from 79,000 in February.

This figure includes subscribers to all its digital channels, across its websites, iPad and the Kindle. Its digital subscription offerings last month received the Launch prize at the AOP Digital Publishing Awards.

Today's figures also claim the Times is downloaded onto 35,000 iPads every day on average, while the Sunday Times is downloaded to 31,000.

In November the group reported it had more than 105,000 "paid-for customers to date", around half of which were monthly subscribers.

At the time the publisher said it had calculated a total paid audience figure "close to 200,000".

Today the company claims there are more than 250,000 joint print/digital and digital-only subscribers to the Times and the Sunday Times, as of the end of June.

"One year on from launch we have proved that people are willing to pay for quality journalism in digital formats. Many doubted if our digital strategy would be successful, here is unequivocal proof it is moving in that direction," Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International said in the release.

"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."

This week the company launched a new iPhone and Android phone app which is free for a short period and will later be included in the digital subscription package.

It also announced a new "managing editor structure" at its four newspapers this week, which the Guardian's Roy Greenslade said indicated a move to integrate the daily and Sunday titles could be on the horizon.

Yesterday the Guardian reported that in an email to staff Brooks said job cuts at News International's four national newspapers "are inevitable as the titles begin to share resources".

Image by Vicchi on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

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