Traditional newspapers are bucking the trend of secular decline in print media as revenues from digital ads and subscriptions soar.

Recent financial results from the New York Times, the Irish Times and News Corp — the parent company of titles such as the Wall Street Journal in the US and the Times in the UK owned by Rupert Murdoch — indicate that traditional media have benefitted from a pandemic-induced bump in news consumption.

Revenue between April and June at the New York Times was up by almost a quarter compared to the same period in 2020, while net income more than doubled.

This was fuelled by a 16% increase in subscription revenue and a whopping 66% jump in ad revenue.

Subscription growth at the newspaper was largely concentrated in its cooking, audio and games sections, buttressing the newspaper’s strategy of diversification into areas other than news.

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While News Corp remained in the red in the quarter up to June, revenue in the news divisions was up by around 20% as a result of subscription growth and a jump in advertising revenues.

A large increase in revenue at the digital real-estate unit also highlighted the benefits for media groups of diversification away from a singular focus on news.

At the Irish Times Group, operating profit increased by 36% to €5.2m in 2020, which the group attributed to a surge in paid subscribers at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and a fall in costs.

The operating profit figure incorporates the €3m in government wage subsidies repaid by the group to the exchequer as a result of a strong trading performance.

The group also noted that while advertising revenue initially plunged when Covid hit, it has steadily climbed since the end of 2020 and through 2021.

Analysts question whether the growth in digital subscription can be sustained as the Covid-19 pandemic gradually recedes into the background.

Growth in notoriously volatile digital ad revenues has also been driven by largely temporary factors such as a surge in e-commerce usage and lavish spending by consumers with a well of pent-up cash.

One bright spot for newspapers is the growing regulatory focus on the domination of digital advertising by Google and Facebook.

In February, the Australian Parliament passed a law requiring tech platforms to pay media organisations for linking to their content.

Lawmakers in the US, the UK and the EU keen to tackle big tech have expressed interest in the Australian approach, which if copied elsewhere could prove a boon to smaller titles not currently reaping the rewards of the digital subscription and advertising boom.