• PaidContent et al., Wednesday, September 22, 2010 12:37 PM

Amid larger concerns, The New York Times Co. on Wednesday said it expected digital revenue to rise 14% in the third quarter of the year.

PaidContent calls it "a significant turnaround from the 7.2 percent decline in web dollars" that the company reported in the third quarter of last year.

"The company in July projected ... growth in the mid- to high-teens on a percentage basis for digital," notes The Wall Street Journal.

Costs, meanwhile, will be up 1-to-2% in the third quarter as Times Co. prepares to launch its metered pay wall early next year, CEO Janet Robinson said at a Goldman Sachs conference this week.

"One of the reasons the NYTCo has cited for the long wait on its metered paywall is that it's doing it all in-house," paidContent reports. "So that takes time and some money, but on the whole, Robinson said it was a small price to pay."

Overall, Times Co. said it expects to show a loss for the third quarter, with newspaper advertising still in decline.

Worse still, "Unlike the prior quarter, the Times Co. said that growth in digital ad sales will not make up for declines on the print side," notes the Associated Press.

"While advertisers have been spending more lately, not all of it is going to the same places as before, most notably newspapers, where declines continue though at a much lower rate than during the economic slowdown," reports The Journal.

"All of which adds urgency to the company's efforts to find greater sources of revenue outside of printed newspapers," adds AP. Along with its forthcoming online pay wall, "the company has been working to expand its audience on mobile gadgets like the iPad, where it also hopes to find both subscription and advertising revenue."

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