NEW YORK: The New York Times on Wednesday reported strong gains in its digital subscriptions, helping the newspaper weather a big decline in advertising revenue.

The prestigious daily said profit in the second quarter dipped six percent to $23.7 million, while revenues declined 7.5 percent to $404 million.

The newspaper added some 669,000 online subscribers in the quarter including 493,000 for its core news product. That brought the number of digital-only subscriptions to 5.7 million and total subscriptions to 6.5 million, putting the newspaper on track to its goal of 10 million subscribers.

Subscription revenue increased 8.4 percent, and accounted for more than 70 percent of receipts at the Times, in line with the strategy to reduce dependence on advertising.