A “clearly insipid” advertising market, rising costs and lower property sales volumes dragged News Corp earnings down 11 per cent to $US320 million ($477 million) in the March quarter.

Revenue fell 2 per cent to $US2.45 billion at the Rupert Murdoch-controlled company, which owns Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones, runs book publisher Harper Collins, and newspapers like The Times and The Sun in London, The New York Post and The Australian. It is also the majority owner of REA Group and pay TV service Foxtel.