es Vienna, June 20, 2022
UK Press Gazette, which has become one of the most informative publications in Europe, printed and especially digital since going “international”, has a sobering account of the fall in online audiences for most of the world’s 50 top sites. Only the nytimes.com audience grew by over 50% in April, suggesting a growing appetite for serious news reportage and comment, a phenomenon also witnessed in the growth of audiences/ readership of the FT and Economist.
One of the most gratifying successes for its fans is the burgeoning audience of the London Review of Books, reported at length a few weeks ago in Press Gazette –: How the LRB became a Bestseller opening with the words: “When was the last time you read about Japanese bondage clubs and ancient Roman poets wanting to make their critics perform fellatio?”
Maybe the pandemic helped too. “Looking for sustainable, profitable growth is what underpins our subscription strategy,” says LRB publisher Reneé Doegar, who saw five years’ worth of subscription growth during the pandemic. “In terms of the annual growth over time, it’s just been based on really clear data and using really various kinds of sophisticated modelling.”
Another clear success, both online and in print and with excellent articles on Ukraine, has been the relaunched Prospect magazine, under its new editor Alan Rusbridger, former Guardian editor.