News Corp chief operating officer Chase Carey has said that he believes early digital subscriptions to The Times and Sunday Times are “a great foundation to build on”.
Early this week it was revealed that The Times and Sunday Times have attracted around 50,000 new digital subscribers since putting up a paywalls online at the start of June.
Carey spoke to analysts after News Corp today reported first quarter operating income (profit) up eight per cent to $1.15bn with operating income from publishing up 50 per cent to $178m.
He said: “In our publishing business, we continue to build on our leadership position and traditional print, with papers like the Wall Street Journal continuing to grow while others decline.
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“At the same time, we’re building a digital business for our news content that has a healthy and exciting future. These digital businesses will take time to emerge and the explosion of tablets the next few years will be a real driving force.
“We feel very good about the launch of our digital subscription product in the UK and believe it’s a great foundation to build on.”
Talking about the Times paywall numbers, Carey said: “I think we feel that this is a great start, a great foundation, and we really look forward to continuing to build on this. And the whole digital arena is continuing to evolve and build and we’ve got a lot in the broader topic.”
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