Categories: OLD Media Moves

WSJ's tablet subscriptions pass 200,000

Paid subscriptions to read The Wall Street Journal on tablet devices such as the iPad have quadrupled to more than 200,000 in the past year, according a Reuters story out Thursday evening.

Ross Kerber of Reuters reports, “Les Hinton, publisher of the Journal, gave the figures while speaking to reporters after a speech in Boston on Thursday.

“Hinton, who is also chief executive of News Corp’s Dow Jones unit, said the figures were surprising and showed how even though consumers have many choices online, they are willing to pay to read certain content on tablets.

“‘The actual proliferation of these things is so rapid,’ he said of the devices. “‘What surprised us is that other periodicals than ours (also) seem to be getting good traction’ for their own tablet content.

“Dow Jones counted about 50,000 paid Wall Street Journal tablet subscribers a year 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.