In a memo sent to Washington Post staff on Tuesday, publisher Fred Ryan announced to employees that the Post would finish the year as “a profitable and growing company,” reports Poynter. He credited the entire team with the company’s success, including the journalism team for editorial content, the sales team for monetizing the new outlets’ products and maximizing new opportunities, and the engineering team for creating new products and launching Arc Publishing, a tool for digital publishers.

“In addition to reinforcing our belief that there is a viable business model in quality journalism, this will provide additional funding for several new initiatives that build upon the successes of this year,” Ryan said.

Ryan said the news outlet’s web traffic has increased by nearly 50 percent over the last year, beating all of its own traffic records. WashingtonPost.com now averages 100 million monthly unique visitors in the U.S. and an additional 30 million monthly unique visitors from around the world.

The Post also saw success on the subscription side of the house, doubling digital subscription revenue over the last 12 months and increasing new subscribers by 75 percent since January.

At a time when many newsrooms including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are downsizing, the Washington Post is larger now than it was a year ago, and they plan to expand in the new year with:

• A new rapid-response investigative team
• A substantial expansion of their video journalism team
• Additional staff on the breaking-news team
• New staff to work on alerts and newsletters
• Additional resources for the Washington Post Talent Network
• Investments in podcasts, the Post’s photo team and other newsroom initiatives

“As exciting and successful as this year has been, the coming year presents even more opportunities to pursue our bold plans and further promote a culture of innovation. I can’t imagine a more exciting time to be at The Washington Post,” said Ryan.

Why is the Washington Post successful? Owner Jeff Bezos comes to mind, of course. The founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, Bezos has a history of good investments but also a willingness to take risks and try new things.

In addition, in a July 2016 article, Digiday notes the Post is casting a wide net to gain a broader audience. The audience is drawn in by special discount offers, free subscriptions on the Kindle Fire table or via Amazon Prime, articles available before the metered paywall kicks in, and pop up promotions. Once the Post draws readers in, it tries to convert those readers into subscribers.

Other reasons for the Post’s success include its extensive newsletter program, quick load time for mobile readers and increased opinion and political coverage, says Digiday.

Insider Take:

This has been a rough year for legacy newspapers, so it is refreshing to see a media organization like the Washington Post report positive news – not just in traffic, but also subscriptions and profitability. It is also exciting to hear about planned expansions instead of anticipated cutbacks. Not every paper has a Jeff Bezos to back it, but other media organizations can still learn from the Washington Post’s successes which stem, in part, from knowing its audience, innovation and a willingness to try new things.