Opportunity for business media with women readers

Ken Doctor writes for Capital Pro about the opportunity that the business publications have in attracting female readers.

Doctor writes, “I was, though, surprised that only 13 percent of The Economist’s 1.6 million global subscribers are female. In my Capital interview (‘What Are They Thinking? Zanny Minton Beddoes: New breed of editors are taking over’) with new editor Zanny Minton Beddoes this week, she noted that The Economist’s wider coverage beyond business and finance had not yet been recognized by a wider audience, and in part, she wanted to make sure that happens. In part, that makes sense, although it implicitly says women aren’t as interested in business and finance as men. I’m sure Minton Beddoes — the highest-ranking female editor in the world, considering The Economist’s circulation — didn’t mean exactly that.

“Still, I wondered how The Economist’s peers may fare on the gender divide. In a few days, I could only pick up a few numbers.

“Bloomberg counts women as 34 percent of its overall readers. The Wall Street Journal pegs its number as 31 percent. Quartz, with its contrarian business and editorial strategies, puts its number at 40 percent.

“Interestingly, those numbers derive from overall readership — not paying readers. By that measure, in fact, The Economist’s gender divide looks more like those peers, coming in at about 30 percent female of overall readers.”

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