Susan Panuccio
Chief Financial Officer at News
Thank you, Robert. Our financial results this quarter demonstrated tangible improvements from the first half, which combined with the implementation of our aggressive cost actions, should position News Corp well for fiscal 2024. We Third quarter total revenues were over $2.4 billion, down just 2% year-over-year, which was a significant improvement from the second quarter rate and included a $98 million or 4% negative impact from foreign currency headwinds. Excluding the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, acquisitions and divestitures, third quarter adjusted revenues were flat compared to the prior year with improving trends at the News Media subscription video services and Book Publishing segments, offset by the decline at Digital Real Estate Services segment. Advertising trends were mixed across our geographies. Total segment EBITDA was $320 million, 11% lower compared to the prior year's record Q3 profits. Results included $7 million of professional fees related to the proposed merger with Fox and the potential sale of Move. Adjusted total segment EBITDA declined 15% versus the prior year. For the quarter, we reported earnings per share of $0.09 compared to $0.14 in the prior year. Adjusted earnings per share were also $0.09 in the quarter compared to $0.16 in the prior year.
Before I discuss the quarter, I wanted to provide an update on our headcount reduction program. Reductions across the business units will vary given the differing nature of our businesses and cost work done to date. We currently expect the annualized growth cost savings to exceed $160 million, up from our initial estimate of at least $130 million with the majority of the savings to be reflected in fiscal 2024. We also expect to incur approximately $90 million to $100 million of cash restructuring charges related to the headcount reductions in the second half of fiscal 2023. Moving on to the results of the individual reporting segments, starting with Digital Real Estate Services. Segment revenues were $363 million, down 13% compared to the prior year, impacted by the ongoing macroeconomic pressures on both the U.S. and the Australian housing markets. The results include a negative impact of $13 million or 3% from foreign currency fluctuations. On an adjusted basis, segment revenues decreased 10%. Segment EBITDA declined 26% to $102 million, impacted by lower revenues, the negative impact related to currency headwinds and higher costs related to REA India, partially offset by lower costs at Move. Adjusted segment EBITDA declined 24%. REA revenues were $222 million, which declined 10% on a reported basis or down 4% on a constant currency basis. The revenue decline was primarily driven by lower residential revenues and to a lesser extent, softness in financial services.
In the quarter, Australia national residential buy listings were down 12%, with Sydney and Melbourne down 20% and 18%, respectively. Those declines were partially offset by the annual price increases in the residential and commercial businesses increased uptake in premium products, including Premier Plus, favorable depth penetration and another robust performance from REA India, which maintained its audience leadership. Like our other businesses at News Corp, REA is taking steps to reduce expenses with a focus on discretionary operational spend and marketing costs. Please refer to REA's earnings release and their conference call following this call for more details. At Move, revenues were $141 million, down 17% compared to the prior year. Real estate revenues were down 23%, driven by lower lead and transaction volumes, reflecting broader housing market challenges. Lead volume fell 30%, while Realtor's average monthly unique users declined 24% to $72 million in the third quarter based on internal metrics, yet up from the $66 million in the second quarter. Realtor has been focusing on optimizing revenues via a prioritized set of initiatives while managing operating expenses as the business weathers ongoing market headwinds. Initiatives include enhancing media advertising placements, including implementing a broader partnership with the businesses across News Corp; optimizing lead allocation across markets; accelerating our go direct path for new homes; and building out the rentals vertical.
Turning to the Subscription Video Services segment. Revenues for the quarter were $477 million, down 3% compared to the prior year on a reported basis due to foreign currency headwinds. On a constant currency basis, revenues rose 2% versus the prior year, the fifth consecutive quarter of growth in constant currency. Streaming revenues accounted for 26% of circulation and subscription revenues compared to 20% in the prior year and again, more than offset broadcast revenue declines, benefiting from both volume growth and higher pricing at Kayo and Binge. Total closing paid subscribers across the Foxtel Group improved to nearly 4.6 million at quarter end, up 6% year-over-year. Total paid streaming subscribers were approximately three million, increasing 16% versus the prior year and accounted for approximately 65% of Foxtel's total paid subscriber base. Paid subscribers for Kayo reached a record of over 1.3 million, up 14% year-over-year. Net adds from the prior quarter improved to 183,000, the largest sequential increase in seven quarters with the start of the popular winter sports codes in March. Revenues also benefited from a price rise implemented in February. Binge paid subscribers grew 22% year-over-year or 109,000 net adds from the last quarter to nearly 1.5 million subscribers, benefiting from the successful release of the Last of Us. As Robert mentioned, on March 30, Foxtel introduced advertising within the Binge Basic product. The product accounts for approximately 30% of all Binge subscribers. We expect a modest revenue contribution from advertising beginning in the fourth quarter.
Foxtel ended the quarter with over 1.3 million residential broadcast subscribers. Broadcast churn continued to improve, down 200 basis points year-over-year to 12.3%. In fact, Foxtel retail churn was just under 10% for March 2023. Broadcast ARPU rose 2% to over AUD84. Segment EBITDA in the quarter of $68 million was down 14% versus the prior year. Adjusted segment EBITDA declined 9%, reflecting higher sports costs due to contractual escalators and enhancements. Moving on to Dow Jones. Dow Jones posted healthy top line growth in the third quarter with revenues of $529 million, up 9% compared to the prior year. Digital revenues accounted for 79% of total revenues this quarter, up three percentage points from last year. Circulation and subscription-based revenues represented over 80% of total revenues, up three percentage points from the prior year, underscoring the stability and recurring nature of the revenue base. On an adjusted basis, revenues were flat, impacted by weaker advertising revenues compared to the prior year. We are continuing to see very strong momentum in our professional information business with revenues rising 38% year-over-year, reflecting the acquisitions of OPIS and CMA, coupled with strong revenues from Risk & Compliance. PIB revenues accounted for 37% of segment revenues. Risk & Compliance revenues rose 16% despite a three percentage point negative impact from foreign currency, led by an increase in demand for screening and monitoring and financial crime search products. The pipeline remains robust, most notably in EMEA.
OPIS and CMA's strong revenue performance is helping reshape Dow Jones revenues to be more recurring as we have increased pricing across our customer base. As Robert mentioned, its carbon index offering continues to expand, and we expect will lead to the creation of new products for current and new customers. Retention rates for OPIS and CMA's products remained well over 90% in the quarter. Circulation revenues declined 1%. The modest decline was driven by lower print volumes and some softness in IBD. Total Dow Jones digital-only subscriptions grew 10% year-over-year or by 208,000 sequentially, the highest net adds since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021. The focus this year has been on the launch of bundles, which expanded to include IBD in the third quarter. Advertising revenues declined 14% to $88 million and accounted for 17% of Dow Jones revenues this quarter. Within advertising, digital fell 17% and print was down 8%, with notable impacts from the technology and finance categories, as we mentioned last quarter. While the advertising market remains challenged, we are seeing encouraging signs with the rate of decline abating. After hitting a low in December, each successive month showed an improvement, with March notably down mid-single digits, and we saw further improvements in April. Dow Jones segment EBITDA for the quarter grew 24% to $109 million as cost growth moderated from the first half, albeit the business is still experiencing the impact of inflationary pressures. The results also reflect the lapping of transaction costs related to the OPIS acquisition last year.
Segment EBITDA margins rose to over 20%. Adjusted segment EBITDA for the quarter declined 11%. At Book Publishing, revenues were flat at $515 million, driven by higher Christian book sales offset by foreign currency fluctuations. After a challenging first half of the year, we saw some positive trends with stability in Amazon orders in North America following the reset in the first half as well as stronger performance from several recent titles. Segment EBITDA declined 9% to $61 million. Costs rose approximately 1%, reflecting ongoing supply chain issues in North America, specifically in manufacturing, distribution and freight costs, which are now showing signs of moderation. The headcount initiative is well underway, which should result in lower employee costs in the fourth quarter. In the quarter, HarperCollins also settled a three-month-long strike with the UAW. The backlist represents 60% of revenues for the quarter, up slightly from last year. Digital sales declined 3% this quarter and accounted for 23% of consumer sales, in line with the prior year. On an adjusted basis, revenues rose 2%, and segment EBITDA fell over 7%. Turning to News Media. Revenues were $563 million, down 3% and included a $42 million or 7% negative impact on revenues from foreign currency fluctuations. Adjusted revenues rose 4%, improving from the prior quarter rate. Circulation and subscription revenues declined 4% but rose 4% in constant currency.
Growth on a constant currency basis was driven by cover price increases in the U.K. and Australia and double-digit digital subscriber growth across News Australia and The Times and The Sunday Times. Advertising trends improved this quarter as advertising revenues were down 5%, but gained 2% in constant currency. Advertising revenues at News U.K. rose 8% in constant currency, led by strong digital advertising performance which is continuing to benefit from the growing scale of the sun.com in the U.S. and an improved performance at The Times and Sunday Times. Advertising was flat at News Australia in constant currency and notably, both Australia and the New York Post benefited from an improvement in print advertising this quarter. Segment EBITDA of $34 million declined 13%, reflecting a much more modest decline from the first half rate as incremental year-over-year investments related to the TalkTV initiative in the U.K. and other digital initiatives in Australia slowed to approximately $13 million. Newsprint costs remain a challenge, having $40 million of negative impact this quarter from higher prices. Those pressures were partially offset by ongoing cost-saving initiatives across the businesses. Adjusted segment EBITDA fell 5%. Turning to the outlook. As a reminder, last year's fourth quarter included an extra week, which contributed $110 million to revenues or about 4% to revenue growth and will impact prior year compares.
We continue to face some supply chain and inflationary pressures and advertising conditions remain uncertain. However, it is important to note that the company's exposure to advertising has materially declined as a result of the reshaping of our portfolio, including the acquisitions of OPIS and CMA. In fact, advertising revenues represented only 16% of total revenues in the third quarter. Despite the extra week, a difficult prior year comparison and ongoing foreign exchange headwinds, given current spot rates, we expect to see improvements in profitability in the fourth quarter as we continue to implement aggressive cost initiatives. Looking at each of our segments. At Digital Real Estate Services, Australian residential new buy listings for April declined 24%. Please refer to REA for a more specific outlook commentary. At Move, like the third quarter, we expect lead volumes to remain challenged in the near term, and we will continue to balance marketing spend and reinvestment in adjacencies with necessary cost reductions elsewhere. In Subscription Video Services, we continue to expect the Foxtel Group's profitability in local currency for the full year to be relatively stable to the prior year despite a step-up in sports rights costs in the second half related to annual contractual escalators.
At Dow Jones, we saw an improvement in advertising in April, albeit visibility remains limited as the prior year compares will be further impacted by the extra week in fiscal 2022. We expect the rate of investment spending to slow, which should lead to improved profitability in the fourth quarter. We have now fully lapped the OPIS acquisitions in the third quarter and will lap CMA in June. In Book Publishing, April revenue trends were soft, consistent with industry data, but we expect cost pressures to start to moderate and are optimistic about our release slide, which as Robert noted, includes Magnolia Table Volume three from Joanna Gaines, and Queen Charlotte, a prequel to Bridgerton from Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes. At News Media, advertising trends remain volatile with limited visibility. We expect total segment cost decline, in part, due to lower incremental costs related to the TalkTV investment, which launched in April 2022, and we hope to see improved profitability for the segment. We have also seen moderating newsprint cost pressures in the U.K.
With that, let me hand it over to the operator for Q&A.
