This presentation may include certain forward-looking information. Actual results could differ materially from what is said due to risks and uncertainties. For more details, please refer to News Corporation's SEC filings, which identify risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ, and which contain cautionary statements about forward-looking information. This presentation may include certain forward-looking information. Actual results could differ materially from what is said due to risks and uncertainties. For more details, please refer to News Corporation's SEC filings, which identify risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ, and which contain cautionary statements about forward-looking information.
Introducing people. Hmm? What the hell? Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Rupert Murdoch, Executive Chairman of News Corporation. It's my pleasure to welcome you to the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders of News Corporation. Before calling this meeting to order, I hope you'll permit me to make just a few remarks. The performance of the company and our aspirations for the future. Now entering our seventh successful year, News Corp is an increasingly digital and global company defined by unparalleled premium content and market-leading and multi-platform brands. From Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal, and The Times of London to our growing digital property platforms, realtor.com and REA, and one of the leading publishers, HarperCollins. News Corp is a uniquely influential media company. We remain, I think, at the forefront of technological and creative innovation with groundbreaking digital membership and subscription models for our mastheads and channels.
The embrace and expansion of radio and a robust leadership in the digital property sector. We're well-positioned to take advantage of the world's growing appetite for quality content, data, and audiences. We'll continue to fight, as we have for years, for the protection of intellectual property and for the proper recognition of journalists' value by digital distributors. We've seen progress in that fight, as some of the tech platforms, most recently Facebook, have begun to respect and reward our journalism. We remain focused on maintaining strong financial results through disciplined financial policies, strategic reinvestment, and leveraging the links between our global business, premium brands, and audiences. As we work to optimize our portfolio and simplify the structure of the company and continue to create and distribute premium content, we expect to generate increased profitability and shareholder value.
I'd now like to call to the podium Robert Thomson, who will share some remarks of his own. Thank you.
Thank you, Chairman. News Corp completed fiscal 2019 in a robust position, with revenues increasing 12% and profitability rising 16% compared to the preceding year, reflecting the consolidation of Foxtel, a buoyant year in book publishing and Digital Real Estate Services, and substantial progress in the digital transformation of our news and information services businesses. We are now acutely focused on simplifying the structure of the company and thus making clearer the full value of the sum of our parts. To that end, we have announced a strategic review of News America Marketing and Unruly, including a potential sale of both businesses. There is patently a shift underway in the content landscape and a transfer of value to content creators by digital distributors. News Corp has been advocating vigorously on behalf of journalists and intellectual property, and that sustained, sometimes solitary advocacy has begun to pay dividends.
Our deal with Facebook is a modest first step, and there is much work to be done to further enhance the terms of digital trade. In fiscal 2019, the news and information services segment posted higher profitability. "The Wall Street Journal," "The Times" and "The Sunday Times," and "The Australian" all grew subscriber volumes substantially, with digital now accounting for the majority of subscribers. "The Wall Street Journal" recorded 14% growth in digital-only paid subscribers in fiscal 2019, and in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, they accounted for over 70% of total subscribers. Circulation revenue at Dow Jones flourished, rising 7% for the year, well above that of the competition. An important driver at Dow Jones has been risk and compliance, which grew 24% for the full fiscal year to exceed $130 million in revenues.
That business has more than quadrupled in size since the 2013 separation as more companies concentrate on maximizing compliance and minimizing risk. In the U.K., in constant currency, "The Times" grew print advertising revenues for the second consecutive year. Digital paid subscriptions at "The Times" and "The Sunday Times" expanded 19% to 304,000. In August, regulatory approval was received for the two publications to share resources without undermining their distinct and unique identities. Meanwhile, in Australia, digital subscriptions exceeded 517,000 in fiscal 2019, up 24% year-over-year. At the "New York Post," decisive action was taken to raise revenues by increasing cover prices. The "Post" digital network reached 101 million unique users per month in the fourth quarter, according to Google Analytics, and digital advertising revenues at the "Post" grew 31% in the most recent quarter.
In subscription video services, the combination of Foxtel and FOX SPORTS Australia was completed in 2018. Throughout fiscal 2019, the new business focused on delivering premium content and rapidly expanding its streaming services. By fiscal year-end, Foxtel's total paid subscribers grew 12% to approximately 3.1 million, led by the success of the new sports streaming product, Kayo, which exceeded 330,000 paid subscribers. That number has risen to 402,000 paid subscribers this month. At Digital Real Estate Services, despite blustery housing market headwinds, both REA and realtor.com strengthened their competitive position. There are signs of improvement in the U.S. housing market. realtor.com traffic reached record levels for the fourth quarter, with far faster growth than its main competitor. Last year, Tracey Fellows became President of Global Digital Real Estate, underscoring our commitment to the sector, which has been an engine of growth since 2013.
Over that time, segment revenues have tripled through a combination of rapid growth at REA and acquisitions in the U.S. and Asia. In book publishing, HarperCollins thrived, with audiobook revenues rising 40% in fiscal 2019. In total, profitability rose 6% on exacting comparisons, which included significant non-recurring benefit in the prior year. We are surely entering an era in which our trusted news, information, and entertainment is increasingly sought by platforms, partners, advertisers, and audiences globally. We intend to make the most of that emerging opportunity for the benefit of all our shareholders. Thank you.
I now call the meeting to order. I'd first like to introduce our directors and members of our management. Onstage with me, our General Counsel, David Pitofsky; Chief Executive Director, Mr. Robert Thomson; our Co-Chairman, Mr. Lachlan Murdoch; the Lead Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee, Mr. Peter Barnes; Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Mr. José María Aznar; Chairman of the Compensation Committee, Mr. Masroor Siddiqui; and our Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Susan Panuccio. Our director seated in the front are Ms. Kelly Ayotte, Ms. Natalie Bancroft, Mr. Joel Klein, Mr. James Murdoch, and Ms. Ana Paula Pessoa. Also present are Ms. Krishna and Mr. Hobson of Ernst & Young, the company's independent registered public audit company. In accordance with the company's bylaws, the board has appointed Mr. Reid from American Election Services as the independent inspector of election for this meeting.
This meeting is held pursuant to the notice of annual meeting of stockholders made available or mailed on October 7th, 2019, to each record holder of the company's common stock as of September 23rd, 2019. The list of stockholders of record entitled to vote at this meeting has been available for examination at the company's headquarters for the past 10 days and is available at this meeting as well. The inspector of election has examined the proxies received and report that holders of the majority and voting power of all the outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote at the meeting are present in person or represented by a proxy. Hereby, I therefore declare a quorum present at the meeting. It is now 10:07 A.M. on November 20th, 2019. The polls are now open for voting.
Only Class B common shareholders of record and ballot proxy holders can vote at this meeting. You do not need to complete a ballot if you voted or returned a proxy before the meeting. If you wish to cast a ballot now, please raise your hand and a company representative will be called to collect your ballot. You will have an opportunity to ask questions after all matters being submitted to stockholders for a vote are present. Please hold your questions until that time. We have four items on the agenda. The first matter to be acted upon by stockholders is proposal one, the election of directors. The board has nominated the following individuals to serve as directors: Lachlan Murdoch, Robert Thomson, Kelly Ayotte, José María Aznar, Natalie Bancroft, Peter Barnes, Joel Klein, James Murdoch, Ana Paula Pessoa, Masroor Siddiqui , and myself.
If elected, each of these director nominees will each serve a one-year term expiring at the 2020 annual meeting, or until his or her successor is duly elected and qualified. Proposal 2, for the ratification of the selection of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2020. Proposal 3 is an advisory vote to approve executive compensation. Proposal 4 is for the amendment and restatement of News Corporation 2013 Long-Term Incentive Plan. A preliminary report by the inspector of election shows that more than a majority of the eligible votes cast have been voted for the election of each of the director nominees, for the ratification of the selection of Ernst & Young, for the advisory approval of executive comp, and for the amendment and restatement of the 2013 Long-Term Incentive Plan. Thank you for your support.
We will report the final results of this meeting in an SEC filing shortly. At this time, any stockholder, proxy holder, or qualified representative who wishes to ask a question relating to any of the proposals or regarding the business or operations of the company should proceed to the microphone and present the yellow admission ticket that you received when you registered today. Before asking your question, please state your name and affiliation. We ask that you comply with the rules and procedures of conduct of the meeting so that we can conduct an orderly meeting. Thank you. Yes, sir.
Good morning, directors and chairman. My name is Jessica Craig, and I've been appointed proxy by News Corp shareholder, Stephen Mayne. I would like to thank you all for your time this morning and ask a few questions on behalf of Mr. Mayne.
There are two questions, each shareholder.
Noted. Mr. Mayne would first like to ask News Corp's stance on climate change. What do you believe is the global role of News Corp in the current geopolitical climate? If you do believe in climate change, Mr. Mayne is interested to hear why News Corp gives climate deniers like Andrew Bolt and Terry McCrann so much airtime in Australia. Mr. Mayne's second question is in regards to Foxtel's future profitability in a rapidly changing entertainment landscape. Can you comment on the corporate strategy that will be presumably implemented to combat the market disruption resulting from the launch of Disney+ in Australia? If I may trouble the board to ask one more question personally, not on the behalf of Mr. Mayne, I'm curious to hear if you think the purpose of credible news is to inform or inflame current issues.
If you do believe it is to inform, how does the board balance this competing priority with delivering profit to shareholders when profit can be traditionally increased by inflaming current news circulation? Thank you.
We have just one question at a time. On climate change, as said, we've reduced our carbon footprint by 25%, six years ahead of schedule. We're the first North American media company to commit to science-based targets to limit climate change. We've reduced energy costs by $18 million since fiscal 2014. Global paper policy to ensure 100% of publication paper is sourced from certified sustainable material. Print centers have achieved 96% diversion from landfill as part of our zero waste goal. There are no climate change deniers around, I can assure you.
On the Foxtel question.
Go ahead.
which is your second question. The new management team at Foxtel has actually done an excellent job in improving the quality of the technology and the user experience, and evidence of that can obviously be seen in the success of Kayo, our sports streaming service, which launched just over a year ago, and now has 402,000 paying subscribers, and that is at a premium rate of AUD 25 a month, not AUD 6.99 or AUD 8 a month.
Thank you. Any other questions? Okay.
Philip Berman, portfolio manager and shareholder. Some brief comments. For years, News Corporation and shareholders have consistently benefited from the innovative and creative strategy, strategic ideas generated by our Executive Chairman, Rupert Murdoch. The Wall Street Journal, acquired in 2007, has consistently become better and better, and now has received more awards than ever before. The novel ideas of our new News Corporation has become the gold standard in the industry. We all are looking forward to Lachlan Murdoch, our Co-Chairman, and also our former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Rupert Murdoch's venture into the future and bringing News Corporation to the top of the game where it always stands.
Thank you very much. Next question.
Hi. John Lindsay, shareholder. Just wanted to thank the efforts of Mr. Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch and Robert Thomson, pushing against these rat bags of the tech world who have been trying to destroy our company. I'm just wondering, the newspaper titles, in terms of the newspaper titles, we've got some fantastic brands there. If we can just weather the headwinds that we're facing at the moment, do you see a future for these great titles, going forward in the new technological environment? They are wonderful brands, and if we can survive the current situation and move forward into the future, we can leverage off these great storied titles that can be great profit centers in the future, I think.
Well, thank you very much, Mr. Thomson. Might to add to it that the secret is to go digital, and there's no doubt that the sale of physical newspapers is under a lot of pressure. Our big titles, The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Australian, are all doing very well. It is because of paid subscriptions, which we're pursuing and expanding. Thank you. All right. Well, thank you very much. Are there any other ballots that need to be collected? It's now 10:16. I have a question. 10:16 on November the 20th, 2019. The poll is now closed. That concludes the business described in the notice of meeting. The meeting is adjourned, and thank you very much for your attendance.