The Economist uses Line to boost readership

In a bid to boost readership in Asia, UK current affairs magazine The Economist  uses Line, becoming the first publisher to adopt the mobile messaging app and its eCommerce gateway.

In the first of the voice push alerts, there is an interview with its Southeast Asia bureau chief discussing Myanmar.

Digital subscriptions to the publication have grown 45 per cent year-on-year in Asia, which is a key market for the publisher, according to community editor Denise Law. She says the company sees little strategic sense in trying to build print circulation in a region where consumers are spending more and more time using mobile chat apps.

“We would rather try to reach new audiences on channels where they are already spending a lot of their time,” she says.

Law says The Economist opted for Japan’s Line instead of WhatsApp, a Facebook-owned rival, because of the way it delivers “really beautifully crafted templates” for publishers to send content to users.

Also, Line users can easily search for a publisher’s page whereas WhatsApp users have to login in with their phone number.

The publication’s priority is to firstly to increase awareness and grow readership, says Law, and once it has gathered more audience data it will start trying to convert readers into paying subscribers.

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