NY Times Debuts New Audio App

The New York Times is leveling up its audio game. Today, the publication launched New York Times Audio, an iOS app for subscribers that serves as a one-stop shop for all of its audio journalism — including its current slate of podcasts like The Daily and The Ezra Klein Show. If you’re partial to a certain podcast platform like Spotify or Stitcher, no need to worry — the Times’ biggest podcasts will still be available for free on other players. 

Instead, the app appears to be an attempt by the Times to build a dedicated audience around all of its audio offerings — not just podcasts. It’ll serve as a home for even more audio journalism, including exclusives that the outlet is creating solely for the app.

This will include a 10-minute daily news recap show called The Headlines that publishes every morning and Shorts, which literally appear to be very short audio stories — under 10 minutes — on culture, lifestyle, cooking, and more. On top of that, there will be a “Reporter Reads” section featuring Times journalists reading their own stories and offering extra commentary. 

The audio exclusives are meant to sweeten the pot for current Times subscribers, helping the publication retain its 9.7 million subscriber base. The Times says it’s seen this formula work with newsletters, and it hopes to replicate it with audio, too.

“What we’ve seen with our subscriber-only newsletters specifically is that subscribers who engage with them engage and retain better than those who don’t. This aligns with our belief that offering differentiated value with a Times subscription is good for our users, and good for our business,” Jordan Cohen, executive director of communications for The New York Times, wrote in an email to The Verge.