Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Marketwatch.com and Investors Business Daily, reported an 8 percent increase in revenue and an 11 percent increase in earnings for the fiscal third quarter, boosted by higher advertising sales and subscriptions.
Revenue rose to $619 million, from $575 million, and operating earnings rose to $147 million, from $132 million, in the third quarter that ended March 31.
During the third quarter, total average subscriptions to Dow Jones’ consumer products were over 6.5 million, a 7 percent increase compared to the prior year. Digital-only subscriptions to Dow Jones’ consumer products grew 9 percent to nearly 6.1 million.
Total subscriptions to The Journal grew 8 percent compared to the prior year, to 4.7 million average subscriptions in the quarter. Digital-only subscriptions to The Journal grew 11 percent to 4.3 million average subscriptions in the quarter, driven by growth in enterprise subscriptions, and represented 92 percent of total Journal subscriptions.
Advertising revenues for the quarter increased $5 million, or 6 percent, driven by digital advertising revenues, which grew 13 percent, partially offset by a 6 percent decrease in print advertising revenues.
Digital advertising accounted for 67 percent of total advertising revenues for the quarter, compared to 63 percent in the prior year.
Dow Jones is part of News Corp., but its parent reports Dow Jones operations separately. The full earnings release can be found here.
