How WSJ digital ads weathered the downturn

Lucinda Southern of Digiday writes about how The Wall Street Journal’s digital ads have fared well during the pandemic in an interview with chief revenue officer Josh Stinchcomb.

Here is an excerpt:

Explain where and why you have seen digital ad revenue growth?
We’ve had a lot of great digital ad momentum lately. We’ve had growth for the last four out of six quarters. We’re largely a B2B ad platform — 65% of our ad revenue is B2B — those sectors that have held up relatively well during COVID, like productivity tech, financial services, healthcare. We’re well-positioned for where there is still growth in the market.
A somewhat surprising bounceback has been high-end residential real estate, which has seen great performance for digital and print. There’s pent-up demand, a lot of supply and so a lot of marketing activities, which was an unanticipated bright spot for B2C. Luxury is beginning to come back, it’s less dire than it seemed to be three months ago.

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.