Why Dow Jones is integrating its B2B businesses into its consumer event franchise, the Journal House

The Wall Street Journal has showed up at marquee events for world leaders — like the World Economic Forum and the Cannes Lions Festival — through its Journal House event franchise since 2019. But Josh Stinchcomb, global CRO of Dow Jones, said the business model had the potential for expansion. And by adding clients from its B2B businesses to the attendee list, in addition to the typical C-suite executives that the WSJ attracts to the house, it ultimately opened the aperture to more advertisers his team could pitch for Journal House sponsorships.

For these two new iterations of Journal House in Singapore and New York City, Stinchcomb said nine total sponsors have signed on, six of whom are first-time advertisers for Wall Street Journal events. He said he attributes to both showing up in a new region, like Singapore, but also bringing new audiences and programming to the events. He declined to share exactly how much sponsorship revenue the Journal Houses are expected to bring in this month or name brands.

Over the two days in Singapore, the Journal House will host a CEO Council dinner, a CMO Network lunch, on-stage programming from The Wall Street Journal and an entire day dedicated to Risk & Compliance. And because Risk & Compliance is “a newish community” for the WSJ’s events, he said “there’s a whole new set of brands and advertisers that care about that executive, [like] the legal industry, for example. It’s leading to us focusing on industries that may not have been as much a focus before, and that creates new advertising opportunities for us.”

Bringing in more audiences might risk muddying the waters for industry-specific event sponsors that have specific job titles they’re hoping to make connections with in the House, but Stinchcomb said his team has worked around this by offering a white glove concierge networking service that connects sponsors with the right attendees needed to achieve their lead generation and interaction KPIs.  

Tamara Alesi, CEO of media buying agency Mediaplus, said that “quantifiable” metrics like lead generation, connections made and interaction quality are becoming more emphasized in briefs for event sponsorship for both her B2B and B2C clients, with brand awareness and visibility remaining important but less pressing of a goal. So services like concierge networking are what Alesi said can help differentiate event offerings for advertisers and making them feel like they’re getting the most bang for their buck.

On the whole, Alesi said event sponsorship has been “gaining momentum during the post-[COVID] era, [and] is expected to remain strong, especially during election years when cutting through the noise is essential,” she told Digiday via email. Also without providing specifics.

Networking is a core element of Journal House events, according to Mae Cheng, evp and gm of events and luxury products and services at Dow Jones. Mainly because it helps add value to Dow Jones’s memberships and communities, like its CEO and CMO Councils, for those who attend the events.

That value will also hopefully extend to the clients of Dow Jones’ professional information businesses, like Risk & Compliance, Dow Jones Energy and OPIS, as they’re incorporated in the Journal House. And given the fact that these B2B businesses have been notable contributors to Dow Jones’ profitability, particularly in the past year, keeping those clients happy customers will hopefully contribute to retention and further growth. 

According to News Corp’s fiscal year 2024 earnings, which ended June 30, revenues for Dow Jones’s professional information businesses grew 11% year over year, with 16% growth in Risk & Compliance and 16% growth in Dow Jones Energy, making this business “the largest contributor to segment profitability.”

“Sponsorship revenue is important, but so is the opportunity to provide value to members of our C-suite communities,” said Stinchcomb. “This creates a moment for us to get our experts from OPIS or the [Risk & Compliance] business in front of that community, which has a benefit to those businesses.”

This story has been updated to reflect Dow Jones’s increased representation of its B2B brands.