Indeed, the tie-up with Le Monde is not the first such arrangement the Gray Lady has inked.
Last fall, four European news publishers—El País (Spain), Politiken (Denmark), the Irish Times (Ireland), and Corriere della Sera (Italy)—sweetened their subscription deals by offering complimentary access to The New York Times. The Times has these deals with more than 20 publishers, according to Nieman Lab.
The tie-ups are part of a broader strategy for the publisher, which in March 2022 set itself the goal of becoming “the essential subscription for every curious, English-speaking person seeking to understand and engage with the world.”
All the news that’s translated to print
Lately, even a goal as lofty as serving “every curious, English-speaking person” has begun to feel limited.
Crucially, instantaneous language translation has become more widespread. The technology has been gradually improving for years, and AI has only accelerated that rate of growth.
Le Monde in English, for instance, became economically feasible only because AI could do the bulk of the translation work (although the final copy is reviewed by a team of editors), according to the company, which is majority owned by French billionaire Xavier Niel. (Niel is also an investor in several AI startups.)
So far, The Times’ forays into international markets have come in the form of untranslated products. Enough people speak English worldwide that it has not yet been a materially limiting factor.
But with nearly costless translation now readily accessible, The Times could soon begin to evolve its international expansion strategy, offering its product in consumers’ native language and dramatically increasing its total addressable market, according to Danczak.
A spokesperson for The New York Times declined to comment.
The company has also faced pressure from activist investors to increase its use of the technology. In August, investment firm Fivespan announced it had built up a position in The Times, pushing the publisher to more aggressively embrace AI. Fivespan founders Dylan Haggart and Sarah Coyne pointed to AI-enabled translation as a key growth accelerant that The Times has left underutilized.
“AI is a clear tailwind for The New York Times,” Fivespan said in a letter obtained by Bloomberg in August. “Our work shows it can more than double the company’s long-term revenue and profit potential: enhancing growth by reaching broader audiences, converting more readers into paying subscribers, and unlocking new, lucrative profit pools.”
If The Times believes it can generate 15 million English-speaking subscribers by the end of next year, imagine how much larger its potential market could be once language is no longer a barrier, Danczak said. Translation, properly handled, could dramatically balloon The Times’ subscriber base, transforming its business into a truly international resource.
