Bob Cohn's guest appearances

Bob Cohn

The Digiday Podcast

The Disruptive Voice

Dorie Clark

Jessica Lessin

Chuck Todd

Erika Nardini

Gary Liu

Bob Moesta

Ben Smith

Jeff Taylor

Andréa Mallard

Amy Adams

Rich Kleiman

Kara Swisher

Martha Stewart

Steve Kaufman

Peter Kafka

OwlTail

Bob Cohn joined The Economist Group in February after more than a decade at The Atlantic, where he served on both sides of the fence -- as its digital editor and later as its president. As president and managing director, his stated remit was to grow The Economist's global readership and open up new commercial opportunities in North America.Of course, merely six weeks into the job, the coronavirus pandemic hit. With it came a surge of subscribers as readers looked to the Economist to unpick the impact on the economy, politics, culture and more."We did see, for a few months back in the spring, new subscribers coming [in] at about twice the rate that we expected," said Cohn on the Digiday podcast.Subscriptions and circulation made up around two-thirds (£204 million;$265 million) of the £326 million ($423 million) The Economist Group generated in revenue in the year to Mar. 31 2020. In recent months, pre-pandemic, the company had already shifted its subscription strategy from focusing on acquisition to more of a retention push. The surge in subscribers during the coronavirus crisis created "a kind of urgency" to keep the newly acquired users."We were an acquisition machine; we were not focused as diligently as we could on retention," prior to Cohn's arrival, he said. "We came into this year with a determination to be better at that and embrace best practice and go beyond best practice."Some of the new efforts have involved the creation of subscriber-only digital events (some 27,000 subscribers tuned in to watch a Bill Gates interview,) increasing the price of its introductory offers and exclusive subscriber newsletters. The number of subscribers in The Economist's "highly engaged" category increased 21% last year, Cohn saidLooking ahead, The Economist plans to roll out a new customer experience platform and create more products at a wider price range to tap a more diversified user base."Retention has been one of our best stories of the year," Cohn said.

Bob Cohn joined The Economist Group in February after more than a decade at The Atlantic, where he served on both sides of the fence -- as its digital editor and later as its president. As president and managing director, his stated remit was to grow The Economist's global readership and open up new commercial opportunities in North America.Of course, merely six weeks into the job, the coronavirus pandemic hit. With it came a surge of subscribers as readers looked to the Economist to unpick the impact on the economy, politics, culture and more."We did see, for a few months back in the spring, new subscribers coming [in] at about twice the rate that we expected," said Cohn on the Digiday podcast.Subscriptions and circulation made up around two-thirds (£204 million;$265 million) of the £326 million ($423 million) The Economist Group generated in revenue in the year to Mar. 31 2020. In recent months, pre-pandemic, the company had already shifted its subscription strategy from focusing on acquisition to more of a retention push. The surge in subscribers during the coronavirus crisis created "a kind of urgency" to keep the newly acquired users."We were an acquisition machine; we were not focused as diligently as we could on retention," prior to Cohn's arrival, he said. "We came into this year with a determination to be better at that and embrace best practice and go beyond best practice."Some of the new efforts have involved the creation of subscriber-only digital events (some 27,000 subscribers tuned in to watch a Bill Gates interview,) increasing the price of its introductory offers and exclusive subscriber newsletters. The number of subscribers in The Economist's "highly engaged" category increased 21% last year, Cohn saidLooking ahead, The Economist plans to roll out a new customer experience platform and create more products at a wider price range to tap a more diversified user base."Retention has been one of our best stories of the year," Cohn said.

'Retention has been one of our best stories of the year': Bob Cohn on steering The Economist through the crisis

In 2009, at a time when The Atlantic was a 152 year old publication known chiefly for its erudite monthly magazine, Bob Cohn joined as Editor of Atlantic Digital. A career journalist, he arrived at The Atlantic five years into a fifteen year wave of disruption that shuttered the doors of some 1,800 local newspapers across the United States. Under Bob’s leadership, digital publishing thrived at The Atlantic, and he was named Co-President &amp; COO in 2013 and President in 2016. Bob is hosted on this podcast episode by Derek van Bever, Director of The Forum for Growth &amp; Innovation, and it was recorded in late November of 2019, while Bob was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he taught a semester long series called “Journalism and Politics in an Age of Disruption.” Bob and Derek discuss the structure of the media industry and the fallout of disruption over the last 20 years, the circumstances which enabled The Atlantic to transition from a print monthly to a digital daily, and habits for responsible media consumption. Bob stepped down from his presidency at The Atlantic in 2019 and has just been named President/Managing Director of The Economist.

In 2009, at a time when The Atlantic was a 152 year old publication known chiefly for its erudite monthly magazine, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-cohn-027bb63/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Bob Cohn</a> joined as Editor of Atlantic Digital. A career journalist, he arrived at The Atlantic five years into a fifteen year wave of disruption that <a href="https://www.usnewsdeserts.com/reports/expanding-news-desert/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">shuttered the doors of some 1,800 local newspapers across the United States</a>. Under Bob’s leadership, digital publishing thrived at The Atlantic, and he was named Co-President &amp; COO in 2013 and President in 2016. Bob is hosted on this podcast episode by <a href="https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=672704" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Derek van Bever</a>, Director of The Forum for Growth &amp; Innovation, and it was recorded in late November of 2019, while Bob was a Resident Fellow at the <a href="https://iop.harvard.edu/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government</a>, where he taught a semester long series called “Journalism and Politics in an Age of Disruption.” Bob and Derek discuss the structure of the media industry and the fallout of disruption over the last 20 years, the circumstances which enabled The Atlantic to transition from a print monthly to a digital daily, and habits for responsible media consumption. Bob stepped down from his presidency at The Atlantic in 2019 and has just been named <a href="https://press.economist.com/story/13607/the-economist-group-names-former-atlantic-executive-bob-cohn-as-president-the-economist" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">President/Managing Director of The Economist.</a>

46. Journalism and Politics in an Age of Disruption: A Conversation with Bob Cohn