Economist Radio revealed that it reaches six million monthly streams and downloads on average as it launched a special podcast series to coincide with the magazine’s ‘The World in 2018’ print publication.
Economist Radio is the combination of all The Economist’s podcasts. The network’s most popular shows are The Economist Asks chat show, the science and tech podcast Babbage and The Week Ahead.
The World in 2018 podcast series will cover America under Trump, the changing role of China on the world stage and other issues which the Economist thinks will define 2018.
The series will include interviews with the former prime minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the leader of the Hong Kong Umbrella movement Joshua Wong and the Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman among others.
The editor and co-host of The World in 2018 Daniel Franklin said: “This special series of podcasts takes you on a short trip to the future.
“An advance tour of 2018, it explores everything from the World Cup to world conflict. We contemplate what’s next for China, culture, Donald Trump and more. Prepare for a lively ride.”
The head of Economist Radio Anne McElvoy added: “As co-hosts of this special series, Daniel Franklin and I set off to take a view of the World In 2018 from Asia. Two Chinese business cities – Hong Kong and Shenzhen – go head to head. And I sample the instant gratification of 5G’s potential.”
The series will broadcast a total of six episodes. The first three episodes, which are available on the Economist Radio website, were uploaded on a weekly basis and the following episodes will be uploaded fortnightly. All episodes will be available for free on aCast, iTunes and the Economist Radio website.
The podcast’s first two episodes cover global issues such as instability in the Middle East, North Korea’s nuclear power and Emmanuel Macron’s reform agenda.
There will also be an episode on Brexit where McElvoy and political editor John Peet discuss what 2018 could have in store for Westminster and the EU.
McElvoy said that The Economist is expanding its number of podcast to “enhance our reach and awareness of The Economist”.
She added that the global circulation for The World in 2017 was one million.
Picture: The Economist