India is intriguing, complex, and alluring because of its size: NYT chief

NYT chief Stephen Dunbar-Johnson finds India market interesting, says good journalism is good business

The New York Times (NYT) has been the flagbearer of subscription-driven quality journalism for long now. Just over a billion dollars of its $1.75-billion top line (FY2018) comes from subscription revenue. Of this, over 40 per cent is from digital-only subscriptions. There has been talk of a formal launch in India where digital publishing has gained traction since 2016. STEPHEN DUNBAR-JOHNSON, president, international, The New York Times Company, spoke to Vanita Kohli-Khandekar on the phone from London. Edited excerpts:

How significant is the international business for NYT and within that where is India?

We have 1,600 journalists at the NYT, of which more than 200 are employed outside of the US in 31 bureaus. Two of these bureaus are in India. In terms of coverage, international is very important. Of the 4.7-million paid subscribers, 3.8 million are digital only. Sixteen per cent of the digital-only news subscriptions are international. It has been growing at a steady clip. We have set ourselves a target of 10 million subscribers by 2025. Of these, I believe, around 20 per cent (2 million) should be international. Doing rigorous journalism across the world and maintaining bureaus in cities like Baghdad or Kabul, from which most media have long gone, is an expensive endeavour. It is important for us to continue to grow our international business on top of the domestic one as we strive to sustain and invest in our journalism. India is intriguing, complex, and alluring because of its size. The total addressable market for the NYT in India is interesting.

You are coming to India next month.

Mark (Thompson, chief executive officer, NYT) and I are coming to India. We are on a learning mission to talk to people and to try and better understand the opportunity in India.

Recently, there has been a proposal from the Indian government on capping foreign direct investment (FDI) in online news at 26 per cent. Does it change your view of the market?

We are very aware of this proposal of 26 per cent FDI. It presents another layer of complexity, but it seems there is still a fair amount of ambiguity about what it means and how it will be applied. Our main priority in India is to offer NYT to Indian subscribers in all its depth and glory. Many people I speak to say Indians don’t pay for content. I don’t agree. There is plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise. There is a community of Indians which is highly curious, well-educated, travels frequently, seeks a different perspective, and loves polemic. The NYT offers rich intellectual fodder for them. We are clear-eyed about the market’s complexity and its changing digital landscape. We will watch closely to see if there are signs that the Indian market will become increasingly sealed off like in China. The threat of increasing Balkanisation of the internet around the world is real.

Would you be willing to come in with an Indian partner who has a majority though the brand and content is yours?

I don’t think this is binary. There are a variety of options that don’t necessarily mean a full-throated joint venture. There may be the potential to partner on a bundling deal for example, as many Indian print publishers are trying to establish digital pay models. India is a big market with a lot of smart people. There is a percentage of them wanting to read the NYT and we should be able to engage them with our journalism and convert them to subscribers at the right price. Also, there is an interesting education market in India, with a lot of young people aspiring to go to universities abroad. Perhaps there is an opportunity there. We monetise high-quality journalism across multiple platforms. There is The Weekly broadcast in the US on Fx and Hulu and our podcasts, like The Daily. (The Weekly is an investigative journalism-led docuseries covering recent events and cultural stories produced by NYT). Good journalism is good business; they are mutually reinforcing. It will be interesting to explore how we might apply that in India. 

To your mind, local/customisation would be largely around marketing and pricing not local content...

Yes. The Guardian has local editions in the US, Australia and so do some others. But that is not our approach. We believe that NYT offers a depth and width of global coverage on politics, business, culture, and science. Local news is well covered by the local media. We are for those seeking a different and broader perspective and our brand of ‘without fear and favour’ journalism.

Quotes
 

“The total addressable market for the NYT in India is interesting” 

 

“The threat of increasing Balkanisation of the internet around the world is real”