Last week The Economist announced it had reached 1.5 million subscribers for the first time, and highlighted the contribution and the potential for growth of their digital subscriptions.

It took us 160 years to reach one million circulation, but only seven years to reach one and a half million. We now expect to reach two million within five years, fueled by rapid growth in digital circulation. By then we expect to have more digital than print readers.

Not surprisingly, the iPad edition – The Economist for iPad – is making a major contribution to the title’s digital success. Here are a few numbers on the iPad edition that the publishers shared with me:

– Over 127,000 of their subscribers are reading The Economist on the iPad every week.

– The number of iPad users is growing fast.

– Their research shows that readers of The Economist for iPad are spending and average of one hour and 45 minutes reading the weekly package.

The Economist is an outstanding publication; it’s great to see that its publishers are optimistic about its digital future, and that the iPad edition is a big part of that.