Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch.com, reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 7% and its earnings rose 10%, boosted by more subscribers.
Circulation and subscription revenues increased $37 million, or 8%, reflecting a 10% increase in professional information business revenues. Circulation revenues increased 5% compared to the prior year, primarily driven by the continued growth in digital-only subscriptions and the conversion of customers from introductory promotions to higher pricing, partly offset by lower print volume.
Digital circulation revenues accounted for 75% of circulation revenues for the quarter, compared to 71% in the prior year. During the fourth quarter, total average subscriptions to Dow Jones’ consumer products approached 6.3 million, a 7% increase compared to the prior year.
Digital-only subscriptions to Dow Jones’ consumer products grew 9% to over 5.7 million. Total subscriptions to The Journal grew 7% compared to the prior year, to over 4.5 million average subscriptions in the quarter.
Digital-only subscriptions to The Journal grew 9% to over 4.1 million average subscriptions in the quarter, which included growth in enterprise and individual consumer subscriptions, and represented 91% of total Wall Street Journal subscriptions.
Advertising revenues increased $2 million, or 2%, for the quarter driven by a 3% increase in print advertising revenues and a 1% increase in digital advertising revenues. Digital advertising accounted for 65% of total advertising revenues for the quarter, compared to 66% in the prior year.
Dow Jones is part of News Corp., which breaks out its earnings in its release. The full release is here.
