Digital subscriptions now account for 58% of total WSJ subs

News Corp. chief financial officer Susan Panuccio made the following comments during its earnings conference call about Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal:

Total subscriber volumes at The Wall Street Journal across all formats was over 2.2 million, a 13% year-over-year increase, driven by higher digital only subscriptions, which rose approximately 36% versus the prior year to $1.3 million and represented 58% of the total subscribers versus 48% in the prior year. Year-over-year circulation revenue growth at Dow Jones was 11% for the quarter, driven by the digital volume gains and higher subscription pricing.

As mentioned by Robert, professional information business revenues grew 5% in the first quarter, continuing to accelerate from prior quarter levels led by risk and compliance, which grew 35% marking strongest year-over-year performance since 2014. In Q1, professional information business revenues represented slightly less than one-third of Dow Jones revenues.

The Wall Street Journal 2020 program, as previously discussed is not only about cost transformation but also focuses on The Wall Street Journal becoming a digital first organization, including more aggressively expanding our digital offerings internationally.

Over the past year, Wall Street Journal digital subscriptions have nearly doubled in Europe and have grown by almost 70% in Asia. Our international footprint is being further expanded by the global reach of our conferences, including the launch of the Tokyo CEO Council and the WSJ D.Live in Hong Kong.

Read more here.