Categories: OLD Media Moves

WSJ grew circulation revenue 7 percent in fourth quarter

Here are comments made by News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson on the company’s fourth-quarter conference call about The Wall Street Journal:

At Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal is the premier player in financial news. Today, we have over 700,000 digital only subscribers and we obviously expect that number to rise. Digital is one-third of our paid subscriber base, at present. We acknowledge that the journal is underpriced, and we’ve taken steps to address that through a combination of new rates and flexible packaging. This quarter, circulation revenues at the Journal grew 7%, an impressive rate of growth in this marketplace.

Our ad revenues at the Journal showed strong sequential improvement in the fourth quarter, and early signs for the first quarter of the current year are particularly promising. This trend highlights the increasing importance of our marquee brand and a desirable demographic in a cluttered, confusing, and sometimes confounding advertising market.

We launched WSJ+ this year, The Wall Street Journal’s customer loyalty program and it’s showing traction with nearly 200,000 active members, thus increasing engagement and lowering churn. We have incorporated similar programs across our markets in Australia and the UK. We announced new global print editions, a journal to grow our audience and advertising revenues internationally, as we focus on key financial hubs and using digital to extend our reach more efficiently in smaller markets. Our team at Dow Jones is continuing to innovate. Having just launched Mansion Global, a new website, which leverages our unique customer base to create a premier international and digital luxury real estate platform in English, Chinese, and Spanish.

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.

Recent Posts

CNBC taps Sullivan as “Power Lunch” co-anchor

CNBC senior vice president Dan Colarusso sent out the following on Monday: Before this year comes to…

8 hours ago

Business Insider hires Brooks as standards editor

Business Insider editor in chief Jamie Heller sent out the following on Monday: I'm excited to share…

8 hours ago

Is this the end of CoinDesk as we know it?

Former CoinDesk editorial staffer Michael McSweeney writes about the recent happenings at the cryptocurrency news site, where…

23 hours ago

LinkedIn finance editor Singh departs

Manas Pratap Singh, finance editor for LinkedIn News Europe, has left for a new opportunity…

2 days ago

Washington Post announces start of third newsroom

Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray sent out the following on Friday: Dear All, Over the last…

3 days ago

FT hires Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels

The Financial Times has hired Barbara Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels. She will start…

3 days ago