The Economist is relaunching its luxury bi-monthly magazine, Intelligent Life, next week under the new name 1843, as it looks to give advertisers access to a highly influential and affluent global audience.
Aimed at readers “relaxing at the weekend or on holiday”, 1843 – the year The Economist first launched – will enter the market on 9 March with an initial circulation of 460,000 for £6.95. It will also be available as a standalone subscription and as part of bundles for premium Economist subscribers.
With 100+ pages of editorial dedicated to lifestyle, culture and ‘ideas’ – including sections on style, travel and tech – the new magazine hopes to attract the most “well-educated, well-travelled, influential and affluent” people – a market that the publisher’s global managing director of client strategy, Nick Blunden, said advertisers are increasingly looking to tap.
“When you look at the demographics of [Economist subscribers] they are consistently very well-educated, well-travelled, very influential and very affluent and it is key, from a commercial perspective, to be able reach those people with no wastage,” Blunden told Newsline.
“A lot of luxury advertisers told us ‘we absolutely love The Economist audiences, but we don’t necessarily want to put our luxury creative next to a story about war’…And that’s really what we’re promising advertisers – that same audience but in an environment that is more contextually relevant.”
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With the first issue four times the size of Intelligent Life, 1843 will launch with more than 30 advertisers on board, with Blunden confirming that branded content will be a part of its ad model.
“Our view is that [branded content] is a huge area of potential growth for us and the luxury sector as a whole because one of the things that characterises luxury brands is that they have extraordinary stories to tell,” Blunden said.
“We’re very positive about it provided it’s very clear to the reader what is created by our editorial team and what is created by our commercial team on behalf of our brands.”
While acknowledging the challenges currently faced by the media market as a whole, editor Emma Duncan, former deputy editor of The Economist, told Newsline she isn’t worried about 1843 falling victim to general trends in circulation declines.
“Obviously the media market has had a lot of problems over the last 15 years but [The Economist] has done pretty well, even in these difficult times,” Duncan said.
“Even though, in some ways the internet is damaging magazine and newspaper business models, there is an appetite for paying for good content. A lot of advertising has gone – some bits of the advertising market remain good, some bits don’t – but through all this confusion you can see people are prepared to pay for the sort of content The Economist offers.”
