Categories: OLD Media Moves

Economist sees 31 percent growth in digital readers

The Economist reported a 31- percent growth in digital subscribers during the last six months of 2015, according to Audit Bureau of Circulation data.

In North America, The Economist’s largest market, digital subscribers rose 14.3 percent to 127,292. Overall, total digital subscribers rose to more than 303,000.

Digital circulation grew 47 percent in the United Kingdom, and 55 percent in Europe and the Middle East. Its fastest-growing market was Africa, which record a 59 percent increase.

“It is our goal to double the profitability of our circulation business within the next five years, and we remain on target to do so,” said Michael Brunt, chief marketing officer and managing director of circulation, in a statement. “Our profitability is driven by continued growth of digital subscriptions and tight management of our print circulation. Digital growth has already allowed us to cut 100k bulk print copies globally, which will be reflected in our next ABC report.”

The Economist has 1.2 million print subscribers, including 751,033 in North America.

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.