The Economist to introduce paid podcasts

The Economist plans to introduce a new subscription tier this Thursday called Economist Podcasts+ for $4.90 monthly, the Economist president Bob Cohn told Axios reporter Sara Fischer.

Fischer reports, “Audio has become the Economist’s fastest-growing platform for audience growth. Executives believe that momentum can be harnessed to bolster subscriptions, which serve as the company’s main source of revenue.

“Details: The Podcasts+ tier will give subscribers exclusive access to all of the Economist’s current and new podcasts, beginning in mid-October.

Current subscribers to The Economist will get access to Economist Podcasts+ at no additional cost.
Nonsubscribers who wish to subscribe to the new podcast tier will have the opportunity to begin preordering their subscriptions at a 50% discount from the annual rate of $49 beginning this Thursday until launch.”

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.