Economist hits record revenue and profit | Politics Joe launches video paywall
And News UK CEO Rebekah Brooks is named personally in court statement following new privacy payout
Welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Friday, 20 June.
The Economist is proving there is life after the newsstand as it returned to revenue growth in 2025 with turnover of £368.5m.
The sales numbers are stupendous (and largely US-based) with the title now claiming to have 1.25 million paid subscribers (up 3% year on year).
Total circulation has been sliding slightly since 2022, suggesting that casual newstand sales are still in sharp decline.
There's usually a degree of smoke and mirrors in publisher subscription numbers involving: group subscriptions, a degree of double-counting of print and digital bundles and discounting. But revenue is the figure which does not lie, nor does the healthy operating profit of £48.1m (up for the third year in succession).
The Economist (like the FT) continues to prove there is a paying market for clever insights into the serious stuff going on in the world. Full details here including some tasty charts.
Politics Joe has launched a paywall for its podcast (but only for the video version). You would think that 18 to 35-year-olds interested in politics would be a sufficiently hard-to-reach group to interest marketers. But sadly for publishers (and the world) most advertisers consider politics content to be ‘not brand safe’. This is a big problem.
I'm glad to see they already have more than 400 paying subscribers just five days in.
The Sun, which continues to deny that its staff were involved in phone-hacking, has paid out yet more damages over a privacy claim. Ciara Parkes was a publicist for Sienna Miller and Jude Law and "witnessed first-hand the damage and distress" caused by the title, according to a statement in open court.
The statement said she "felt betrayed by her friend, Ms Brooks, who she believes must have known of and permitted unlawful activities".
Brooks was editor of the News of the World and then The Sun from 2000-2009 (the heyday of tabloid dark arts) and has been CEO of News UK since 2015. She spent six months in the dock at the Old Bailey during the hacking trial and was cleared by a jury of involvement in illegal activity during her time as editor of the News of the World.
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Subscriptions growth fuels record revenue year for The Economist
Economist says latest finances provide "foundation for our future".
Publicist to receive damages after settling legal claim against Sun publisher
“The claimant believes that her hard work and those connections were exploited by NGN’s journalists and felt betrayed by her friend, Ms Brooks, who, she believes, must have known of and permitted unlawful activities.”
‘We accept the risks’: Sky News boss calls for journalists to be allowed into Gaza
“This constitutes a war on truth that is at odds with Israel’s proud and oft repeated claim to be the Middle East’s only democracy – and it should not be allowed to stand.”
Politics Joe puts video podcast behind paywall
“The economics of publishing on Youtube really aren’t there. People ask, ‘Why don’t you do a Youtube membership?’ – they have their subscription package, but they take 30%…”
News in brief
The Telegraph has published a homepage apology for publishing an unverified story about a rich family struggling with the cost of school fees misleadingly illustrated with stock images. (Press Gazette)
Goalhanger has appointed a chief revenue officer to pilot its “rocket ship”. (Press Gazette)
The BBC has threatened Perplexity with legal action, saying it has evidence the AI start-up’s “default AI model” was “trained using BBC content”. Perplexity accused the BBC of wanting to "preserve Google's illegal monopoly for its own self-interest". (Financial Times)
BBC Breakfast editor Richard Frediani is taking “extended leave” while bullying allegations are investigated. (The Sun) The BBC has reportedly brought in a consultant to look at the culture of the show. (Deadline)
On Press Gazette
Bustle focuses on originality and access as revenue grows 38%
Tech media challenges: ‘World of churn for clicks is disappearing’
Daily Beast gains on Reddit and Facebook as Google traffic falls
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Press Gazette now operates a metered paywall, so you’ll need to subscribe in order to read more than a couple of premium stories on our website.
This newsletter remains free.
Latest podcast: Video masterclasss with PA Media's Joe Pickover
UK national news agency PA Media has massively ramped up its video output in recent years and is able to provide live video feeds of news events across the country. Here PA head of video Joe Pickover explains how publishers can make video work for them in a podcast edition which is presented by Press Gazette in association with PA Media.