NEW YORK, Oct 20, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The New York Times Company reported that for September NYTimes.com achieved record traffic of 21.3 million unique visitors worldwide, a 49% increase from September of last year, according to internal data. NYTimes.com generated 561 million page views, up 17% year over year.

"Our readers relied on NYTimes.com for coverage of important news events, including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as changes in the Supreme Court throughout September," said Leonard M. Apcar, editor in chief, NYTimes.com. "The site also experienced increased traffic in the Movies and Fashion sections, which were enhanced by superior multimedia packages."

Several sections of the site experienced strong year over year growth. Page views for the National section of NYTimes.com increased 326%, year over year, reflecting reader interest in coverage of the hurricanes and the changes in the Supreme Court.

Also, page views for the Movies section increased 123% year over year due in part to coverage of the New York Film Festival (NYFF). NYTimes.com was the exclusive online home to the NYFF short films and streamed the films on a new, high-speed video player. In recognition of the NYFF short film streaming, Macromedia.com named NYTimes.com as "Site of the Day" on October 7.

Additionally, NYTimes.com's multimedia features saw a 95% year over year increase in pageviews, driven by slideshows and interactive graphics like those detailing Katrina's impact, listing "The New York Times Correspondents' Guide to Europe" and profiles of the Supreme Court nominees.

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2004 revenues of $3.3 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and 35 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. For the fifth consecutive year, the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's 2005 list of America's Most Admired Companies. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

This press release can be downloaded from www.nytco.com

SOURCE: The New York Times Company

The New York Times Company
Kathy J. Park, 212-556-4059
kpark@nytimes.com