‘Modern Love’: How to Stop Asking ‘Are You Mad at Me?’
‘Modern Love’: How to Stop Asking ‘Are You Mad at Me?’
279 days agoThe DailyThe New York Times
Podcast45 min
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Note: AI-generated summary based on third-party content. Not financial advice. Read more.
Quick Insights

Consider The New York Times (NYT) for its successful digital subscription strategy that extends beyond traditional news. The company is effectively bundling engaging content like games, including the popular Wordle, and lifestyle utilities into its core app. This approach is designed to increase user retention and reduce subscriber churn, strengthening its revenue base. This focus on creating a multi-faceted digital product signals a strong potential for sustained growth in digital revenue. Investors should monitor digital subscriber growth as a key indicator of NYT's long-term success.

Detailed Analysis

The New York Times (NYT)

  • The podcast features a promotional segment for The New York Times app, highlighting its features and value to subscribers.
  • The discussion emphasizes the app's diverse content offerings that go beyond traditional news, including:
    • Games: The popularity of games like Wordle and the availability of the full Wordle Archive for subscribers is mentioned as a key engagement driver.
    • Lifestyle & Utility: A cooking tab is highlighted as a useful feature for users looking for recipes.
    • Personalization & Accessibility: The app offers a personalized "U tab" for saved articles and an audio feature to listen to articles, catering to different consumption habits.
  • The overall sentiment of the promotion is highly bullish on the app's utility, describing it as "essential" and having "something for everyone," which points to the company's strategy for user acquisition and retention.

Takeaways

  • The promotional segment provides a glimpse into The New York Times' business strategy, which is heavily focused on growing its digital subscription base.
  • The company is actively bundling news with other engaging forms of content like games and lifestyle utilities to make its subscription more valuable and "sticky" for users.
  • This strategy could be a key factor in reducing subscriber churn and attracting a wider audience that might be interested in the non-news features.
  • Investors may view this focus on creating a multi-faceted digital product as a positive sign of the company's adaptation to the evolving media landscape and its potential for sustained growth in digital revenue.
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Episode Description
“Am I in trouble?” “Am I secretly bad?” These are questions Meg Josephson, a therapist and author, grew up asking herself. She was constantly trying to anticipate other people’s needs, worried that she was letting other people down. And it wasn’t until she found herself standing in the aisle of a Bed Bath & Beyond, trying to remember her favorite color, that she realized her desire to please everyone was eroding her sense of self. On this episode of Modern Love, Josephson talks about how that realization led her to confront her tumultuous childhood, and what it took to stop “people pleasing.” She then reads the Modern Love essay “My Three Years as a Beloved Daughter” by Erin Brown, about a woman who found a type of love in her best friend’s parents that she had never experienced before, and what that taught her about her own parents. Josephson’s book, “Are You Mad At Me?,” is available Aug. 5, 2025. Find new episodes of Modern Love every Wednesday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadio Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
About The Daily
The Daily

The Daily

By The New York Times

This is what the news should sound like. The biggest stories of our time, told by the best journalists in the world. Hosted by Michael Barbaro, Rachel Abrams and Natalie Kitroeff. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week, ready by 6 a.m. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Listen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at nytimes.com/audioapp