How The Economist is using short-form video to attract readers

Neha Gupta of the World Association of News Publishers writes about how The Economist is using short-form videos to attract new readers.

Gupta writes, “After deliberating and strategising, the 180-year-old Economist launched on TikTok in July 2022.

“‘We chose TikTok because we felt it was the most different and would push us and challenge us to do a totally different new format of visual storytelling,’ Moloney said.

The majority of their TikTok audience is younger than 35 years of age, which is split 58-42 male-female.

“Although the company operates on a TikTok-first basis, that content also gets repurposed to Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).

“‘All our videos are based on the original articles which helps us send people back to the website to register and subscribe,’ she added.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.