Here are comments that News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson made on its second-quarter earnings conference call about its business news properties:
Turning now to our own businesses, which are certainly conscious of their responsibilities as custodians of customer data. It is clear that the ongoing digital transformation of Dow Jones is efficacious. Many traditional media companies are ailing, but that is certainly not the case of The Wall Street Journal, where paid digital subscribers grew 23% to over 1.7 million.
Dow Jones overall has approximately 3.2 million total subscribers, 13% higher year-over-year. Elsewhere in the Dow Jones family, MarketWatch saw strong gains this quarter, with visits up 45% year-over-year according to [indiscernible], while Barron’s grew its total subscribers 27% year-over-year.
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At Dow Jones, the subscription business is performing well and obviously, has much potential for growth. And if you look closely, you’ll see the wsj.com, circulation revenues were up 15%. That’s not crosswords or couscous recipes, not low rent up as we’re seeing elsewhere in the sector.
As for professional content in a clustered world, companies want to incorporate Dow Jones content network and that is happening at pace. To be honest, advertising needed work. We have a new ad team at Dow Jones and that team is certainly making a positive difference. Digital ads at Dow Jones were up 15%. And as for risk and compliance, the fastest growing business at Dow Jones, if any of you out there want to minimize risk and maximize compliance, then you simply must have a Dow Jones contract. If not, feel free when the regulator comes out knocking.
Read the entire transcript here.
