New York Times Co. reported a decline in quarterly revenue on weak advertising sales but said it would try to grow out of the slump by expanding its suite of digital products.
The 11.2 percent drop in advertising revenue in the first quarter underscores the pressure that the Times faces to increase its subscription revenue, especially for its digital products, and find new veins of income.
The company plans to roll out a line of lower-priced products — including an expansion into e-commerce and games.
Paid subscriptions to digital products at the company’s namesake paper and The Boston Globe totaled 708,000 in the first quarter, a 45 percent increase from a year earlier.
Still, the growth in subscriptions slowed compared with the prior quarter. Paid digital subscriptions were up 6 percent in the first quarter from the fourth quarter, after growing 13 percent in the fourth quarter from the third.
Compounding the challenge is a surprise slip in digital advertising revenue, which dropped 4 percent at the Times.
Times shares closed at $9.45, up 5 percent.