How The Economist is trying to attract more female readers

Lucinda Southern of Digiday writes about how The Economist is trying to attract more readers.

Southern writes, “In order to grow its global readership, The Economist is targeting an underrepresented demographic in its audience: women. Less than 30 percent of its 1.4 million print and digital subscribers are women, according to the publisher.

“Tying in with International Women’s Day on March 8, the publisher has launched in front of its paywall a content hub featuring 10 previously published profiles of inspiring women such as activist Betty Friedan. It’s driving readers to the hub through targeted social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Posts on architect Zaha Hadid and mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani are performing three times better than The Economist’s median reach on Facebook, although the publisher wouldn’t share specific figures. Readers can also download the profiles as a package in exchange for registering with an email address.

“People who visit the site have generally the same content preferences — international politics, education, health care, the environment — so the editorial tone and topics are not overly suited to one gender. But The Economist has a perception problem. People believe it only covers political and economic topics, when its scope is much broader, spanning topics like society and pop culture through an Economist lens.”

Read more here.