News Corp’s revenue has dropped by one per cent in the first quarter of this, despite the company passing the million subscriber mark in Australia (lead image: Michael Miller).
The Murdoch-owned company reported its first quarter earnings for financial year 2023 in New York early this morning, revealing it made AU$3.81 billion in revenue, compared to AU$3.85 last year.
Revenues for the group’s global news media business, meanwhile, fell by four per cent from AU$886 million to AU$851 million.
In Australia, News Corp grew from 897,000 paid digital subscribers this time last year to 1,012,000.
“We’ve led the way for digital subscriptions in Australia with audiences seeking out our mastheads across multiple platforms whenever they need trusted news, information and entertainment,” said News Corp Australasia’s executive chairman Michael Miller.
“The naysayers claimed people would never pay in sufficient numbers to make digital publishing a viable subscription business, however they failed to appreciate how digital and data would bring us so much closer to our audiences through new, innovative storytelling channels,” he added.
“We now know the success of the News Corp Model says much about the foresight of Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and their belief people would pay for journalism relevant and helpful to their lives.”
The group’s Foxtel streaming services, meanwhile, saw users grow from 3.9 million this time last year to 4.6 million. However, the Foxtel Now service saw paying users drop from 239,000 to 197,000. News Corp’s overall streaming service subscription fell three per cent, from AU$175 million to AU$170 million.
Overall, the company blamed “more volatile” economic conditions, as well as foreign currency fluctuations and a decision by Amazon to slash its book inventory levels.
“Australians can rest assured we will continue to evolve our offering across all platforms to meet our audiences wherever they consume our content, whether in print, digital, video, audio or social media,” added Miller.
