As digital revenue becomes more central to the newspaper business — and with a small boost from the launch of “The Weekly,” a television show on FX and Hulu — The New York Times Company on Wednesday reported second-quarter revenue growth of 5.2 percent compared with the same quarter last year.

Operating profit declined by the same proportion, to $37.9 million from $40 million a year earlier. In a statement, Mark Thompson, the company’s chief executive, said the dip in profit was “in large part a result of continued investment into growing our subscription business.”

The company’s share price dropped 12 percent on Wednesday.

The number of paid subscriptions, digital and print, reached 4.7 million, a high. Nearly 3.8 million people pay for the publisher’s online products, with the company adding a net total of 197,000 customers for its news, crossword and cooking apps during the quarter, a sharp increase from the 109,000 subscriptions added in the same period in 2018. Of those subscribers, 131,000 came for the digital news product.

Since introducing its web paywall eight years ago, The New York Times has sought to guard against industry declines in print advertising revenue by making most of its money from subscriptions, breaking from the traditional newspaper business model.