The New York Times has  reported a quarterly loss because of declines at its About.com website.

However, the company, which publishes its namesake newspaper and the Boston Globe, said total revenue had risen almost 1 per cent in the second quarter because more subscribers were paying for its news, including on NYTimes.com.

Subscriptions to the company's digital products, including the BostonGlobe.com, were up 13 per cent to 532,000 compared with March 18th numbers.

The company reported an operating loss of $143.6 million in the second quarter, which included a $194.7 million non-cash writedown for the About Group.

That compared with a year-earlier operating profit of $31.5 million.

About.com is a website that provides expert answers that are geared to appear high in search queries. In turn, the company sells advertising against those results.That division has run into trouble, mainly because of changes made by Google to its search algorithm to return high-quality results.

At the About group, revenue fell almost 8 per cent due to decreases in both cost-per-click and display advertising. The company cited competition and the weak economy for the display advertising revenue declines.

Excluding severance costs and the About Group goodwill charge, the company reported earnings per share of 14 cents, beating analysts' estimates by a penny, according to Thomson Reuters.

Total revenue of $515.2 million beat the analysts' forecast of $510.9 million.