Economist explores whether video can drive subscriptions

The Economist is studying whether a new video series can drive subscriptions, reports Lucinda Southern of Digiday.

Southern reports, “In September, as part of a project funded by the Google News Initiative, The Economist will launch a weekly exclusive YouTube series, provisionally called ‘The Truth About….’ Each episode will be roughly 10 minutes long and take a more in-depth look at a topic that Economist journalists are covering. The series is planned to run until March.

“According to the publisher, the series aims to drive reach and subscribers on YouTube, where The Economist has nearly 900,000 subscribers, but also to drive traffic to its own site. Ultimately the aim is to deepen its relationship with audiences and explore how video can drive subscriptions and retention.

“‘In the last six months, we’ve been starting to ask how much further into the customer journey is there a role for video and what does that look like,’ said David Alter, director of programs at Economist Films at Digiday’s Video Summit, Europe.”

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.