• The Wall Street Journal et al., Thursday, July 22, 2010 2:09 PM

Even without the subscriptions soon to support her, the Gray Lady on Thursday credited strong digital dollars with helping to halt overall ad revenue declines. Reflecting prior-year gains, however, New York Times Co.'s profit still fell 18% in the second-quarter.

As digital ad revenue was up an impressive 21%, it "picked up some slack and constituted more than a quarter of [the publishing company's] total ad revenue, which was flat for the period," reported The Wall Street Journal.

As Editor & Publisher noted, "The New York Times Co. became the first big newspaper publisher to report top-line growth in its second-quarter results, with total revenue increasing 1.2% from a year ago."

"Yes, the Web is the new new thing, as everyone in the media knows -- so the Times can stick its collective chest out," writes MarketWatch. (Whether the good digital news bodes well for the company's stock price is another matter entirely, MarketWatch adds.)

Also important to note, "The New York Times ... has been cutting costs and selling off assets while bolstering its digital offerings and seeking new revenue streams," writes All Things D.

Going forward, however, the publisher said costs are going to start going up, due to the "impact of rising newsprint prices, the timing and level of variable compensation, the elimination of certain salary rollbacks, and increased promotional spending and other costs associated with the launch of the NYTimes.com pay model."

The so-called "metered" pay model is set to debut by January. On Thursday, Janet Robinson, The Times Co.'s president and CEO, said the company was on track to launch its metered model, which involves charging for high levels of online content consumption.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal et al. »