The Economist unveils new app to enhance digital reading experience and build long-term value with subscribers

London, United Kingdom – 9th May 2018 – Today The Economist unveiled a new app that provides an enhanced digital experience for subscribers. The new app, called simply “The Economist”, has been designed to improve the digital reading experience with the aim of building long-term value for subscribers.

The Economist app’s new features include a list of articles from the print edition and economist.com, curated by Economist journalists daily. It also includes a Morning Briefing, which is a full edition of Economist Espresso, a standalone app. The new app also includes a full audio edition with streaming of all print articles, and the full weekly edition of The Economist. In addition to providing a native mobile experience, the new Economist app is designed to help subscribers navigate and discover the breadth of Economist journalism more easily.

The team behind the new app used an agile development process over a one-year period to ensure that subscribers were at the heart for the new app. The team engaged hundreds of subscribers directly to gather feedback on proposed new offerings; many were given special access to the app in beta and asked to provide feedback.

Richard Holden, the product manager behind the new app, said: “After listening closely to what our subscribers want out of an app from The Economist, we think we have created a new digital experience that will bring our audience closer to our daily and weekly content, ensuring they are able to quickly get to their favourite parts of The Economist each day on their phones.”

Denise Law, head of product, added: “We wanted to build an app that solved real customer problems and pain points. We hope that this new app will help Economist subscribers get more value out of their subscription.”

The new app is available for iPhone and iPad in the iTunes store where it will sit alongside The Economist’s original Digital Editions app referred to as “The Economist Classic”.

The Economist has seen increased digital subscriptions over the last few years with the latest Audited Bureau of Circulations report showing 11% yoy rise in digital subscriptions in the UK, 38% yoy rise in North America and 25% yoy rise globally.

Additional features are expected to be added to the new app over the next six months including access to back issues, offline audio and other content from The Economist.

Current subscribers with digital access to can get the new app by downloading it here (https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239397626?mt=8) on the App Store and logging in with their existing Economist account.

For more information, please contact:

UK HollyDonahue@economist.com or +44 (0)7715621079
US LaurenHackett@economist.com or +1 212 554 0639