Elsa Li

Elsa Li asked about Dow Jones' subscription revenue, specifically how consumers rolling off promotional pricing will support ARPU, and the company's strategy for pricing growth and balancing new subscriber acquisition versus ARPU.

Answer

CEO Robert Thomson explained that the Dow Jones team has increased enterprise customers, integrating WSJ content into corporate workflows. These large deals have lower churn and marketing costs, though they modestly impact ARPU in the short term. He noted genuine pricing elasticity due to unique editorial, improving subscriber tracking, and dynamic pricing for high-usage subscribers. Thomson also highlighted a 12% rise in digital advertising revenue to a record high. CFO Lavanya Chandrashekar confirmed recent pricing increases for new and tenured digital customers, optimization of promotions, and a healthy ARPU improvement excluding enterprise customers.

Elsa Li, an analyst at UBS, inquired about Dow Jones' subscription revenue, specifically how consumers rolling off promotional pricing would support ARPU, and News Corp's strategy for pricing growth going forward, balancing new subscriber acquisition with ARPU enhancement.

Answer

Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, explained that Dow Jones has successfully increased enterprise customers, integrating WSJ content into corporate workflows. While these large deals have lower churn and marketing costs, they can modestly impact ARPU in the short term. He noted the team's belief in pricing elasticity due to unique editorial content and improving ability to target subscribers with dynamic pricing. Thomson also highlighted the 12% rise in digital advertising revenue to a record high. Lavanya Chandrashekar, CFO of News Corp, added that pricing adjustments were made for new and tenured digital customers, and promotional offerings are being optimized, with direct subscription ARPU (excluding enterprise) showing healthy improvement.