Mundial’s Winning Strategy: How Niche Publishing is Building a Strong Subscriber Community

This is the perfect time to be a niche publisher! The era of big, flashy launches funded by venture capital is over, and slow, organic growth is the new trend. No one wants to be the next Vice, after all.

To cut a long story short, the football publisher managed to survive the pandemic, although not without some battle scars. The quarterly magazine, the heart of their business, had to take a break from printing. However, after being acquired by media holding company FootballCo, Mundial has been printed six times as a quarterly feature since 2022.

“Now, we’re able to act as a pure publisher of a brand,” said Owen Blackhurst, Mundial’s co-founder, something that wasn’t possible before the acquisition. Previously, Mundial’s commercial priorities often hindered their publisher aspirations, but those days are over. With the support of their new owners, Mundial is now able to focus on reporting on football culture with authority, taking incremental steps rather than trying to do it all at once.

And the strategy seems to be paying off. “By the end of the year, we will have tens of thousands of paying subscribers, which we’re proud of,” said senior vp of content and creative James Lamon.

That’s all Lamon would say about the media company’s subscription scale. However, he emphasized the core truth of today’s popular and innovative publishing brands: They prioritize direct connections over page views and are becoming increasingly community-driven through newsletters and direct traffic.

Mundial has recently introduced a weekly, longer-form newsletter for its paying subscribers and anyone else willing to pay £1.99, offering a mix of nostalgia and hot takes on current events. This paid-for newsletter will run alongside the free, albeit shorter, weekly version, catering to die-hard fans who want more. 

“The solution to Mundial was never going to have 10 million followers on Instagram — we already have a brand [in FootballCo] that does that and more,” said Lamon. “That’s not what Mundial is about. It’s a secret handshake for football insiders.”

Mundial isn’t just another media brand with a huge Instagram following. It’s a brand with deep, real connections with actual people, using those connections to inspire readers to take action and connect with others. Its presence on Discord is a perfect example.

Last month, Mundial quietly launched on the social media app by only inviting 100 subscribers to join its space there. The idea was to test the waters — to see if this space could be like a club for football fans.

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