After Harvard Business Review kicked off 2017 by reducing its print frequency to bimonthly—eliminating 40 percent of the issues offered in a $99 annual subscription—it was a combination of smart positioning, creative new digital benefits, and a heavier investment in the six print issues that remained, which allowed the magazine to end the year with 10-percent more subscribers than it began with. The lack of subscriber outrage around the dramatic shift “was almost hurtful,” editor-in-chief Adi Ignatius quipped to Folio: last August. Another year in, the century-old management magazine has upped its paid circulation by 15,000—according to the latest data from the Alliance for Audited Media—increasing a record-high that now sits at 319,631. Far more than an editorial pivot, the last two years have represented a fundamental, company-wide shift in the way the Harvard Business Review approaches its readers, both existing and prospective, as well as a redefining of what it means to be a subscriber. Folio: sat down with SVP and group publisher Sarah McConville, as well as membership marketing manager Caty Trio, to learn more about the business sense behind HBR's ongoing growth story. Folio: It’s been almost two years since you reduced your print frequency—has all of this growth on the subscriber side defied expectations? Sarah McConville: We certainly hoped for it, but in the magazine business you can never assume. I think there were a lot of things that we did leading up to the... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'
[ Folio Magazine | 2018-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]