The Economist tries to convert YouTube subscribers into paying members

The Economist has 1 million YouTube subscribers and is seeing signs that these videos are driving referral traffic back to its site, where it wants people to subscribe, reports Lucinda Southern of Digiday.

Southern writes, “The videos use YouTube features like end cards and links to drive people to The Economist, where they can read more detail and data on a topic, as well as encourage more interaction with the publisher’s team through the Q&A videos and the platform’s community tab. According to Tubular Labs, engagement rates — which include likes and comments — on The Economist’s YouTube videos this year are already 34% above the engagement rate in 2018, just two months before the end of 2019.

“‘We’re starting to see on YouTube the fruits of really focusing on making content for audiences on that platform and asking ‘what is the best way to reach and engage them?” said David Alter, Economist Films director of programs. ‘It’s part of the broader drive in optimizing engagement. The starting point is knowing that video is one of, if not the, most powerful engagement tool there is. Part of that answer is to think about content in terms of different formats.’

“Economist readers are already watching video: According to the publisher, 86% of its readers watch videos online every week.”

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