The New European bucks the trend of print publishing

The general consensus is that print is on the decline, and that the future is increasingly digital and social. One British news magazine is breaking the mould.

The last Reuters Digital News Report showed that in the UK, 17 per cent of people use print as their main source of news, a far cry from when 59 per cent of Britons were print readers in 2013.

Speaking at International Journalism Festival in Perugia today (20 April 2023), Matt Kelly shared his journey as the founder and editor-in-chief of The New European.

It launched nine days after the British EU Referendum in 2016 under the ownership of the regional newsgroup Archant. Kelly saw a market of 16m bitter Remain voters who wanted a publication they could invest in and support their views. Undoubtedly partisan, but factual at its core, he pledged.

Wary of expensive print experiments led by other news rivals, Archant took a punt on a limited run pop-up publication run over four weeks, figuring it would not matter if it flopped.

It did not. The first issue sold 40,000 copies at £2 each. So when Archant went bust in 2020, Kelly and his business partner raised enough money to buy out the title.

Seven years later, The New European is valued at £6m. It prints a weekly edition, selling 20,000 copies at the crept-up price of £3.95. It is ad-free meaning it has no clients or advertisers to appease, or readers to plunder data from.

It is currently losing £2k per week, but is on course to be profitable by the summer. The team of eight have modest costs and print is considerably more lucrative than its subsequent online efforts.

The New European attracts half a million unique visitors to the website, which runs a hard paywall at £10 a month, though it also offers various bundles and offers. Subscriptions are increasing 50 per cent year-on-year, and some of its content does repackage well on social. But make no mistake, print is the priority.

"I felt very strongly that starting a new website in 2016 - who cares? they're ten a penny," says Kelly.

"Launching a new newspaper, people prick up their ears. Who are these idiots and what is it all about?"

Print has some upsides, notably the cache that it brings. Kelly claims that younger journalists prefer to see their stories make the print edition over the website, and paying high story commissions is more justified for print.

'The riches are in the niches'

The tighter your niche, the more people are prepared to pay, Kelly adds. In fact, it is not a willingness to pay - it is a want to support the publication.

Such is the support for the title, The New European has been able to raise a further £1m in 2022 through a co-ownership scheme, offering equity in the business. It initially aimed at £500k, but managed to meet double its target as 2,200 new donors pledged to own a piece of the business.

Unlike other pioneers using this model, like The Bristol Cable, co-ownership does not translate to having any editorial input. The only upside is to support the business and get an exit the day the business is sold - though there are no plans to do that anytime soon.

"That's a powerful audience to speak to, people who care so much they want to own a piece [of you]," he continues.

Session moderator Alan Rusbridger, former Guardian editor-in-chief and now editor of Prospect Magazine, spoke about the "tyranny of metrics" that dominate digital media organisations, obsessing over what content audiences like or dislike.

Kelly agreed, suggesting that it removes a headache when web analytics or audience habits are not part of the equation.

“I edit that newspaper for myself, I don’t have the reader in mind - I don’t need to.

"I don't need to sell a million copies, I need to sell 25,000 copies then it’s a very profitable business - and believe me, there are 25,000 people in the UK that feel just as strongly as I do."

Join us at Newsrewired on 23 May 2023 for a day of panels and workshops on securing loyal online audiences, retaining subscriptions and more.

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