"Overserve the fans" will be a winning strategy
"When Taylor Swift appraised her Eras tour, she could also have been describing The Economist’s audience-building strategy for 2025"
– 2 min read
"I wanted to overserve the fans…my main goal is to give something to [them] that they didn’t expect."
When Taylor Swift appraised her Eras tour, she could also have been describing The Economist’s audience-building strategy for 2025. The launch of Insider lifted engagement among our 1.3m subscribers. A sizeable chunk of them are now watching exclusive twice-weekly shows in which our editors and global experts cover geopolitics, tech, defence and economics, or reading two accompanying newsletters containing insights and analysis unavailable elsewhere. Even so, this is a fraction of their overall bundle, which gathers our app, newsletters, podcasts, rolling news, AI-generated summaries, narration (and curation) by humans—and, of course, dozens of articles per week containing the rigorous, fair-minded analysis at the heart of our 182-year-old brand.
More publishers will follow our lead in 2026. We all see how search-engine summaries are gobbling up passing traffic and page-one rankings. Social-media platforms remain essential shop windows for quality journalism—and some are even wooing newsrooms (Merry Christmas, Bluesky, LinkedIn and Reddit!)—but overwhelmingly want to keep users on their own apps. Individual creators can feel a more natural fit than fusty brands on the likes of Instagram or TikTok. And the "slop" (our word of the year) merchants are clogging up the internet.
As audiences risk drowning in drivel, the personal touch will grow in importance. The media organisations that thrive (or simply survive) will show unrivalled expertise, authenticity and accuracy. Their ability and willingness to listen to, and engage with, subscribers can lift the veil on what editors do, and why. And understanding what audiences think can even generate journalism in its own right. Ensuring people are pleased to hear from us, directly on their phones, in their ears or via their inboxes, is certainly on my Wish List for 2026.
Written by
Kevin Young is head of audience for The Economist, spearheading digital growth in a role that builds on his previous position as head of social media.
