Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Spectator’s sales hit an all-time high of 83,000

A few months ago, The Spectator became the fastest-growing current affairs magazine not just in Britain but in Europe. Magazine industry figures are out today and we’re delighted to announce that in the second half of last year, each issue of The Spectator sold 83,020 copies, up 8.9 per cent on the year. This is an average for the six months: the figure now is significantly higher. In April, we’ll become the first magazine in the history of publishing to print a 10,000th issue: we’ll do so with sales at an all-time high.

What’s driving our success? We have the best writers – Rod Liddle, Matthew Parris and Charles Moore, to name just a few – and let them write what they want. We have the best (and most beautiful) books and arts pages. Instant analysis from James Forsyth, Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman – the best-informed journalists in Westminster. And our growing readership lets us invest in giving subscribers more of The Spectator, including:

  • Podcasts. We have over 1.4 million monthly listens for our growing stable of podcasts, including the daily Coffee House Shots, where James Forsyth, Katy Balls and guests analyse the latest developments in Westminster and beyond (here’s the latest, on why Sajid Javid quit the government today); Americano, where Spectator USA editor Freddy Gray and guests make sense of US political madness; and Sam Leith’s Book Club, with interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry to physics.
  • Emails, including Isabel Hardman’s Evening Blend – Westminster’s most-read politics email, delivering the best Spectator writers straight to your inbox. With 90,000 subscribers and a 40 per cent open rate, Evening Blend is Britain’s no. 1 politics email.
  • Events, continuing the discussion off the page. This year we’ll be analysing Rishi Sunak’s Budget hours after it’s delivered, looking at the monarchy in the 21st century, spending an evening with Prue Leith and embracing the irrational with Rory Sutherland.

And there’s more to come: soon, we’ll be starting a new digital era for The Spectator with the launch our all-new, faster, easier-to-read website, which you can preview here.

If you don’t already subscribe, why not try us for a month for free.

PS: Our sales figures are just that: people buying copies of The Spectator. They don’t include bulks, frees, double-counting, smoke or mirrors. A full breakdown of our figures (and 20 years of our ABC-audited data) can be found here.

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