Sud Ouest

What Sud Ouest does

Sud Ouest is a French regional daily newspaper founded on 29 August 1944 in Bordeaux by Jacques Lemoîne, and is the 2nd-largest regional daily in France by audience and the clear leader in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The publication serves residents of seven departments — Gironde, Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne, Charente, and Charente-Maritime — through 10 distinct local print editions, a 24/7 digital platform at sudouest.fr, native iOS and Android applications, the regional TV channel TV7, a diversified podcast portfolio, and 40+ free thematic and geographic newsletters. Headcount is approximately 720, including 250 journalists and 400 local correspondents, supported by 20+ agencies and editorial offices and a Paris bureau, with industrial printing conducted in-house at the Centre d'Impression in Bordeaux (300,000 copies nightly on 3 rotatives).

The core product is the multi-edition daily newspaper, complemented by a digital newsroom, mobile apps, podcasts, video/TV7, the long-form "Formats Longs" series, and ancillary services including the Sud Ouest Premium digital subscription (starting at €1), the Edition du soir evening digest, Sud Ouest Jeux games module, the Club Abonnés loyalty program, a searchable archive dating to 1944, and the Unes Anniversaires front-page gifting service. The technology stack is a standard multi-platform digital publishing architecture (web, mobile, RSS, podcast feeds, video) with no disclosed proprietary AI/ML components. Sud Ouest is the operating brand of the legal entity S.A.P.E.S.O (Société Anonyme de Presse et d'Édition du Sud Ouest) and sits within Groupe Sud Ouest (GSO SA), an independent media conglomerate created in 1986 that encompasses 26 media brands.

Revenue is generated through three primary streams: print and digital consumer subscriptions (140,000 print subscribers and 42,000 digital subscribers), advertising sold through the in-house agency Sud Ouest Publicité across print, digital, and broadcast inventory, and ancillary revenue from legal notices (Annonces légales), archive and anniversary-edition sales, events, and themed magazine supplements. With a 2021 ACPM daily print circulation of 212,931 and approximately 1.2M daily unique digital visitors (1M+ daily print readers), the company reaches roughly one in three adults in its core market but operates within the structurally declining French regional print industry, making digital subscription and advertising growth the principal forward levers.

Name

Sud Ouest

Legal name

Société Anonyme de Presse et d'édition du Sud Ouest (S.A.P.E.S.O)

Website

https://sudouest.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1944

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Sud Ouest is a French regional daily newspaper founded in 1944, serving 1M+ daily readers across seven Nouvelle-Aquitaine departments via 10 print editions, the sudouest.fr digital platform, mobile apps, TV7, podcasts, and 40+ newsletters.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Regional Daily Newspaper

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (51311), Television Broadcasting Stations (516120), Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Alternative/Independent Newsweeklies & Opinion Press (MPAJADAH)

Keywords

• Regional daily newspaper
• Digital news platform
• Print media subscriptions
• Local advertising sales
• Multi-platform journalism

Headquarters

HQ city

Bordeaux

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Print newspaper subscriptions: Traditional paper newspaper sales and subscriptions with 140,000 print subscribers. Daily circulation of 212,931 copies (ACPM 2021) with 1,020,000 daily readers for print edition.
2. Digital subscriptions: Premium digital access including 'Accès Illimité', 'Edition du soir' reserved content, and premium articles. 42,000 digital subscribers mentioned.
3. Advertising (Sud Ouest Publicité): Local and regional advertising through internal advertising agency Sud Ouest Publicité, serving advertisers across all platforms and formats.
4. Archives and special products: Sale of historical newspaper archives, 'Une' commemorative editions, and special anniversary products. Facsimile sales: entire journal (€50), simple front page (€20), laminated front page (€30), front page under glass (€50).
5. Events and experiences: Revenue from printing center visits (free visits), events, and special publications. Additional income from magazine supplements and special editions.
6. Legal notices (Annonces légales): Published legal notices section generating revenue from businesses and organizations required to publish official announcements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Sud Ouest is an independent French regional daily newspaper and multi-platform media organization headquartered in Bordeaux, publishing continuous local, regional, national, and international news across print and digital channels. Its core offering is the flagship Sud Ouest daily newspaper (10 local editions covering 7 departments of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, ~212,931 copies daily) and the sudouest.fr digital news platform (~1.2M daily unique visitors), supplemented by mobile apps, TV7 broadcast, podcasts, newsletters, and a paid subscription tier with premium content such as Edition du soir.

Product overview

Sud Ouest operates as a multi-platform regional news and media organization built around its flagship daily newspaper and digital news portal sudouest.fr. The core offering spans a print newspaper (10 local editions, ~213k daily copies), a high-traffic digital platform (sudouest.fr, ~1.2M daily unique visitors), native mobile apps for iOS and Android, a local TV channel (TV7), and a diversified podcast portfolio. The subscription layer includes Premium digital access (starting from €1/month), the evening Edition du soir digest, and the Club Abonnés loyalty program. The Kiosque digital store provides access to the daily journal and thematic supplements (e.g., regional tourism guides). Supporting offerings include 40+ thematic/geographic newsletters, an archive service dating to 1944, a front-page anniversary gifting service, a games submodule, and an advertising sales division. All of this sits within the broader Groupe Sud Ouest, a 26-brand independent media ecosystem encompassing print dailies, weeklies, regional TV, event management, book publishing, wine and economic verticals, and a digital innovation subsidiary.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sud Ouest Week-end: Weekend tourism supplement
• Sud Ouest Gourmand
• Le Mag
• La chaîne TV7
• Diverto

Products and services

• Sud Ouest Daily Newspaper Flagship regional daily newspaper published in print across 10 local editions covering 7 departments of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, with a daily circulation of approximately 212,931 copies and more than 1 million daily print readers.
• Sud Ouest Digital News Platform (sudouest.fr) The primary digital news platform delivering continuous regional news coverage, ranked among France's top 10 general news websites with approximately 1.2 million unique daily visitors across the site and mobile applications.
• Sud Ouest Mobile Applications Native mobile applications for Android and iOS providing mobile access to Sud Ouest digital news content, available via Google Play and Apple App Store.
• Sud Ouest Newsletters Over 40 free thematic and geographic email newsletters including daily editions such as La Matinale and Le Récap', as well as sports, politics, and bien-être-focused newsletters.
• Edition du soir (Evening Edition) Curated evening news digest reserved for subscribers, featuring top stories from the day's continuous news feed.
• La Chaîne TV7 The regional television channel operated by the Sud Ouest group, offering live broadcasts including La Matinale, La Grande Édition, Le Flash Info, and Le Week-end news programs.
• Sud Ouest Podcasts Diversified portfolio of audio podcast content produced by Sud Ouest journalists, available for streaming and download across major podcast platforms.
• Kiosque Digital Storefront Digital storefront where readers can purchase the daily newspaper and thematic supplements in digital format, including regional tourism guides and special magazine issues.
• Formats Longs (Long-Form Content) In-depth investigative reports and long-form storytelling produced by Sud Ouest journalists, accessible as a subscriber feature.
• Sud Ouest Premium Subscription Paid digital subscription service providing unlimited access to all online articles, Edition du soir, and subscriber-only content, with plans starting from €1 per month.
• Sud Ouest Jeux (Games) Suite of puzzle and game offerings available to subscribers, including crosswords and other casual games.
• Sud Ouest Club Abonnés (Subscriber Club) Loyalty program for Sud Ouest subscribers offering exclusive benefits, events, and privileged access to editorial content.
• Sud Ouest Archives Searchable online archive of Sud Ouest newspaper issues dating back to 1944, allowing readers to purchase and view historical front pages and full newspaper editions.
• Unes Anniversaires (Anniversary Front Pages) Specialized service allowing readers to order facsimiles of historical Sud Ouest front pages as keepsakes, with multiple framing and delivery options (entire journal €50, simple front page €20, laminated €30, framed €50).
• Sud Ouest Publicité (Advertising Sales) The group's in-house advertising sales division providing local and regional businesses with media advertising solutions across the Sud Ouest print, digital, and broadcast portfolio.
• Sud Ouest Solidarité Community solidarity initiative by Sud Ouest supporting charitable causes and local engagement projects in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1 million+ readers daily across print and digital
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• APEM (Association Pour l'Education aux Médias)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSud Ouest participates in media education initiatives through APEM, a national association established in 2019 that continues EMI (Education aux Médias et à l'Information) actions started by the daily press in the late 1970s. The partnership enables school visits and journalism profession demonstrations.
• Google Cloud Platform (hosting)minorOthersSud Ouest's printing center website (visite-imprimerie.sudouest.fr) is hosted by Google Cloud Platform, located at 8 rue de Londres, 75009 Paris, France. This is an infrastructure services relationship.

Scale indicators18 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/so_bordeaux
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC7PX-myPpcT4YfZEWqZxGGg
• Facebookfacebook.com/journalsudouest
• Instagraminstagram.com/journalsudouest/?hl=fr
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/journalsudouest

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries20 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sud Ouest