• by Paul Gough , November 3, 2003

Dow Jones & Co. said Monday that it would begin reporting its U.S. print and online subscribers together in its latest Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) statement, giving The Journal a total paid circulation of 2.09 million.

Dow Jones said the Journal's print subscriptions had held steady at 1.8 million over the past few years, but the Online Journal has grown to 686,000 paid circulation. It said it could report 2.09 million under ABC rules.

"We believe this reporting of our circulation to ABC more accurately reflects the total paid circulation of the U.S. Journal franchise and will be more useful to our advertisers," said Karen Elliott House, Dow Jones' senior vice president and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. She said the company would more aggressively market print and online subscriptions plus do more cross promotion of Journal products to existing customers.

For advertisers, The Journal said those who maintain or increase levels of print advertising while adding what it called incremental online spending would benefit from a 30 percent bonus on the value of incremental online advertising that could be applied in either print or online.