The Economist Group, a leading global digital journalism organization with 1.2 million active subscribers, aimed to expand digital subscriptions by introducing a modern in-app audio experience. The project focused on enabling users to listen to articles, create custom playlists, access offline content, and explore podcasts, while integrating a scalable paywall/subscription system. The solution included a refactored, reliable audio codebase, analytics integration, and flexible monetization features, enhancing user engagement, reducing technical debt, and driving subscription growth.
Source
Challenge
Lack of in-app audio, offline listening, podcast ecosystem, scalable paywall, and maintainable audio codebase
Solutions
Custom audio player, offline download manager, editable tracklists, podcast section, and flexible paywall/subscription system
Client
The Economist Group — a globally recognized leader in digital journalism, with 1.2 million active subscribers and a fast-growing digital audience. The organization delivers trusted analysis, storytelling, and reporting through mobile, web, and print channels.
Challenge:
The Economist aimed to increase digital subscriptions by expanding audio offerings. Key challenges included:
- Lack of in-app audio experience; users could only read articles
- No offline listening support
- Absence of a podcast ecosystem
- Need for a scalable paywall/subscription model
- Existing audio codebase was unstructured, hard to maintain, and prone to technical debt
Solution:
We joined The Economist’s Audio Squad and delivered a complete transformation of the in-app audio experience:
- Custom Audio Player + Listening Experience
- Redesigned mobile audio flow, enabling listening to any article
- Increased session duration and repeat engagement
- Smart Offline Download Manager
- Users can download custom queues or playlists
- Reduced storage and bandwidth consumption for offline use
- Editable Audio Tracklists
- First-of-its-kind editable tracklist builder
- Users can create personalized playlists from multiple articles
- Dedicated Podcast Section
- In-app podcast experience with categories, queueing, and playback
- Enhanced content diversity and engagement
- Customized Paywall + Subscription Architecture
- Flexible paywall supporting full digital subscription and podcast-only subscription
- Dynamic A/B variants configured via Firebase without code changes
- Faster implementation for future monetization experiments
The whole flow is presented below:
Operational Improvements:
- Refactored, standardized, and optimized the audio codebase
- Added analytics with Conviva and Sentry
- Reduced technical debt, improved app reliability, and enhanced audio performance
Result:
Digital-only subscription revenue became the majority of total subscriptions
Digital-only subscriptions grew from 56% to 61% in 2023
13% increase in digital subscriptions in a single year
Subscriber count remained strong at 1.18M+ active users
Improved UX, engagement, and monetization opportunities through modern audio features
