People walk by The New York Times building in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 16, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

By Deborah Mary Sophia

(Reuters) -The New York Times added more than double the number of digital subscribers than Wall Street had expected in the September quarter, as consumers flocked to its website to keep track of the rapidly changing global political and economic landscape.

The publisher on Wednesday also forecast strong subscription revenue growth for the fourth quarter, benefiting from its strategy of bundling its core news offerings with podcasts, games like Wordle, lifestyle and sports-related content into one package.

Shares of the Times rose nearly 3% in early trading.

Increased global tensions, President Donald Trump's flip-flopping trade policies and deepening public concern about wars and climate change have prompted the public to keep a close tab on global affairs, propping news consumption in the United States.

NYT has also tried to expand its video and audio coverage to tap into more customers. It is producing more news videos and full-length shows - including video versions of podcasts like 'The Ezra Klein Show' - and recently launched a video feed called "Watch" within its main Times app.

"Our strategy is working as designed ... We substantially grew the amount and impact of our video journalism in news and across the portfolio," CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said on an earnings call.

NYT added about 460,000 digital-only subscribers in the quarter ended September, soaring past Visible Alpha estimates of 214,500. The figure was also much higher than the 230,000 additions in the prior quarter.

That took its total subscriber count to more than 12.3 million, surpassing the 12 million milestone for the first time. The company aims for 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027.

More than half of its digital-only subscribers were on its bundle subscription or on multiple products, which the company has said would help boost engagement and subscription revenues.

It expects total subscription revenue to rise 8% to 10% in the fourth quarter, compared with estimates for an 8% increase, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company's third-quarter total subscription revenue increased a better-than-expected 9.1% to $494.6 million.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)