Unlike newspapers, consumer magazines have been hesitant to make their content available online. The Week is no exception, using both its US website and UK site to publish free, daily news updates, not the curated, summarized and analytical briefs available in its print edition.But in 2011, The Week began creating tablet and mobile apps that replicated its print content, and were only available after single-copy or subscription purchase. It then leveraged its print subscriber list and multiple online marketing channels to grow its digital subscriptions.The Week’s efforts have led to impressive growth. In just one year, The Week’s digital-only subscriptions (i.e., app subscriptions for the iPhone, iPad, Android or Kindle platforms) has grown from 4% of total subscribers to 13%. And bundle subscribers (subscribers paying a higher premium for print and digital access) has grown from 17% to 27%.

That means that out of The Week’s current 160,000 subscribers, 64,000 are willing to pay for access to the magazine’s tablet (or mobile) app.Abi Spooner, head of direct marketing at The Week, told Subscription Site Insider that the publication has used email marketing, SEO and PPC marketing, postal direct mail, SMS/text messaging and social media to acquire new subscribers. Read this week’s Case Study on The Week to learn which marketing channel was the most effective and responsible for The Week’s impressive digital subscription growth.