Economist wins U.S. readers by targeting the smart

Marketwatch media columnist Jon Friedman writes Monday that The Economist continues to gain more U.S. readers because it is targeting their intellectual curiosity.

Friedman wrote, “Even without the ever-newsworthy Spears gracing its pages, the Economist is making its mark in the U.S. Spokesman Justin Hendrix told me that the magazine expects to show 13% circulation growth in its upcoming filing, on top of the 8.5% jump in the number of advertising pages in 2007. With a circulation of about 722,000 in North America now — and more than 1.3 million in total — the magazine intends to crack the 1 million threshold on this continent in the next five years.

The Economist prides itself on being relevant to its readers. ‘We think there is an ever-growing number of people who want an intelligent read,’ Micklethwait, 45, said. ‘People who read the Economist knew the problems with housing all over the world, the Islamic extremism, food prices and even bin Laden.’

The Economist is thriving in the U.S. because it frequently succeeds in being different from the American media. The Economist is decisive, but not shrill. Its stories in the magazine and on the Web have a sense of urgency, but don’t reek of hype.

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