From Semafor, February 22:
The Scoop
One of the English-speaking world’s oldest publications has contracted an age-related condition: Its audience, too, is aging. Since 2015, the median age of an Economist subscriber has risen from 51 to 61, according to figures shared at a recent meeting and described to Semafor by two people.
Of course, the magazine was never going to be a Gen Z sensation, and has always appealed to what some employees would describe as a “mature” audience. Indeed, those mature readers have made “the paper” — as it’s known internally — one of the most reputable and consistently profitable publications in the history of English-speaking news media.
But the audience stat comes at a moment of transition for the magazine itself, and will pose hard questions for what are likely to be a new generation of investors and managers.
One of The Economist’s longtime owners is selling her stake. The publication’s top editors are jockeying for the editor-in-chief role, a powerful position at a magazine where the writers, rather than the business side, traditionally control the direction of the enterprise. And at the heart of these challenges is one familiar to every media leader: A publication famed for its brilliant, monolithic anonymity faces a moment of intense individualization and personalization.
Know More
The Economist has been covering markets, finance, and global affairs since 1843, watching rivals come and go from its perch. It has an unusual, authoritative house style: no bylines, one single, unified voice.
Its longevity can be credited in part to a few smart digital bets over the past three decades. When many publications let down their paywall at the tantalizing prospect of chasing massive audiences online through social platforms, The Economist remained skeptical, choosing a model that emphasized subscription and reader revenue over advertising. The publication expanded its expensive intelligence business aimed at corporate readers, and also struck gold on a few side projects, including its popular podcast.
The result has been consistent profitability: In its interim financial report in November, The Economist Group reported half-year revenue of £170 million, 4% higher than the previous year, with operating profits of £20.2 million, a 23% improvement over the previous year. The publication has 1.25 million subscribers. While some close observers internally have quibbled with the number, noting that it seems to include cheap podcast-only subscribers, it puts the publication in a tiny global top tier, on par with The Atlantic and The New Yorker....
....MUCH MORE
Here's a graphic we used a few times to demonstrate the opportunities sometimes afforded to the speculator by politicians, in this case the repeal of England's Corn Laws to allow the importation of grains to the sceptered isle. The event set Chicago up to be a manufacturing hub with Mr. McCormick selling his farm implements to American farmers growing grain for the British market.
The Economist's food-price index was created in 1845.
In 1846 The British Parliament voted to repeal the Corn (grain) Laws, reducing the tariff on imported grain, effectively opening the British market to American wheat.
Our post "Global Warming, Politics, Laws and Opportunity" had this list of annual sales of Mr. McCormick's reaper:
1840------- 2
1841--------0
1842--------7
1843------ 29
1844------ 50
1845------ 58
1846------ 75
1847-----800
As can be seen, the politics had quite an effect on the McCormick family fortunes.
In Global Warming, Politics, Laws and Opportunity--Part II:
As reported by The Economist May 16, 1846, the British House of Commons had repealed the "Corn Laws", eliminating the tariff on imported wheat, the day before. Corn in this usage is not maize but rather is generic for grain. Prime Minister Peel won the battle but lost his premiership, the quote of the day was "Peel and repeal."
Trivia
The Economist was founded in September 1843 by James Wilson with help from the Anti-Corn Law League; his son-in-law Walter Bagehot later became the editor of this newspaper.
