The Australian boosts subscription offering

The Australian will offer its subscribers free access to The Wall Street Journal, as it reaches new milestones.

The Australian has sweetened subscription packages by offering free access to The Wall Street Journal at no extra cost as the paper reaches a subscriber milestone.

Monday to Friday circulation has surpassed 170,000 total paid sales for the first time in the newspaper’s history, powered by a 14.5 per cent year-on-year rise in digital subscribers.

The raucous spectacle of the race for the White House has provided an opportune moment to combine with The Wall Street Journal, said editor-in-chief of The Australian, Paul Whittaker.

“The addition to our subscription offer is especially timely and relevant, given the upcoming Republican and Democratic conventions and the Presidential election in America,” Mr Whittaker said.

“Not only will our members receive the context and insight they expect from our coverage, led by foreign editor Greg Sheridan, they will now have unrivalled analysis and reporting of the US election via The Wall Street Journal. No other news outlet can provide such comprehensive coverage of the weeks and months to come.”

From today, all of The Australian’s new and existing digital subscribers will get digital access to The Wall Street Journal on wsj.com, on iOS and Android, and via an ePaper.

It comes as The Australian continues to shift its business model to rely more heavily on a steadily growing digital subscription business and consumer revenue. New digital products have given The Australian a way to slow circulation declines, raise ­prices and open up a new source of revenue.

Combined with bigger web and ­mobile audiences, and more stable print advertising and circulation revenue, the subscriber-driven approach has helped to offset challenging conditions in the print advertising market.

Chief executive of The Australian, Nicholas Gray, said the move “added value” to The Australian Plus, a member benefits program for digital subscribers.

“To give them unlimited access to a respected publication with more than 125 years of reporting and award winning international journalism obviously complements the market-leading coverage they have access to via The Australian perfectly,” Mr Gray said.

A marketing campaign will seek to raise awareness. Called “What happens there – matters here”, advertisements will roll out across print, social and digital platforms.

“We’re delighted to introduce The Wall Street Journal to The Australian’s sophisticated audience,” said Jonathan Wright, the international managing director of The Wall Street Journal publisher, Dow Jones.

“As the definitive global source for business, political, finance, economic, and technology news, The Journal delivers essential access to US and world news providing an ideal companion to local titles such as The Australian with its essential domestic coverage. We look forward to exploring a number of mutually beneficial opportunities to collaborate on.”

Digital subscribers can activate The Wall Street Journal account with a unique code, located in the Manage section of My account. Click here for full instructions.