• by Ray Schultz , February 7, 2024

Dow Jones achieved Q2 revenue of $584 million, up 4% YoY. Digital accounted for 78% of the quarterly total.  

The publisher now has 5.4 million total news subscriptions, a hike of 10% YoY. This is mainly due to digital subscription growth in The Wall Street Journal and the Barron’s Group, which includes Barron’s, MarketWatch, Investor’s Business Daily and Financial News. 

In addition, digital advertising revenue rose by 1%for the first hike since Q1 FY23. However, total ad sales fell by 4% due to anticipated falloffs in print. 

Dow Jones’ B2B business increased by 13% to $210 million , driven by growth in the entire business information services portfolio, particularly notably in Dow Jones Risk & Compliance and Dow Jones Energy.

Meanwhile, parent News Corp. reported Q2 revenues of $2.59 billion, a 3% increase over the prior year. This reflected the Digital Real Estate Services, Dow Jones and Book Publishing segments.

News Corp. also recorded $183 million in net income in Q2, up from $94 million in the prior year.

“News Corp again saw growth in both revenue and profitability this quarter as we continue to realize the collective benefit of our strategic shift to digital and subscription revenues, and away from sometimes volatile advertising revenues," says chief executive officer Robert Thomson.

Thomson adds, "We expect to be a core content provider for Generative AI companies, who need the highest quality, timely content to ensure the relevance and accuracy of their products. We patently prefer negotiation to litigation, courtship to courtrooms.

"But," he continues, "let’s be clear, in my view those who repurpose without approval are stealing and are undermining the very act of creativity – counterfeiting is not creating, and the AI world is replete with content counterfeiters.

Thomson also calls attention to "the plight of our colleague Evan Gershkovich, who continues to be unjustly detained in a Moscow prison, solely for being a highly professional journalist."