Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch.com, reported an 8 percent increase in circulation and subscription revenue in the first quarter.
Overall Dow Jones revenue rose s1 percent to $385 million.
During the quarter, total subscriptions to Dow Jones’ consumer products reached 3.88 million, an 18% increase compared to the prior year, of which digital-only subscriptions grew 29%. Subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal grew 19% compared to the prior year, to 3.10 million average subscriptions in the quarter.
Digital-only subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal grew 27% to more than 2.35 million average subscriptions in the quarter, and represented 76% of its total subscriptions.
Advertising revenue decreased $14 million, or 17%, primarily due to a 39% decline in print advertising revenues, driven by general market weakness and lower volume across The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s due to COVID-19, partially offset by a 14% increase in digital advertising revenues.
Digital advertising accounted for 57% of total advertising revenues in the quarter, compared to 42% in the prior year.
The full earnings release can be found here.
