SO PRESS

What SO PRESS does

SO PRESS is a French independent press publishing group headquartered at 15 Rue du Ruisseau, 75018 Paris, operating as a Société par Actions Simplifiée with declared share capital of €1,063,204. Founded in 2003 with the launch of flagship football monthly SO FOOT and fortnightly general-interest title Society, the company has built a portfolio of 18+ magazine titles and media brands spanning football (SO FOOT, SO FOOT Club, Trashtalk, Degaine, VRAI FOOT DAY), cinema (SO FILM), music (Tsugi, Billboard France), culture and society (Society, Big Bang, SO GOOD, Tampon!, SO FOOT Arena podcast), fashion (L'Étiquette Homme), tennis (40A), cycling (Pédale!), and children's topics (Doolittle).

At the core of the group's monetization is the Kiosque SO PRESS, a proprietary digital reading platform accessible via web reader (lire.sopress.net) and native iOS/Android applications, with unified SO PRESS accounts, offline reading capability, back-issue archive access, and Stripe/SEPA payment processing. The Kiosque supports both individual edition purchases and the all-digital monthly bundle at €9.90/month, with standalone per-title subscriptions (digital, paper, or combined) and print distribution via French newsstands. SO PRESS qualifies for the French government's 30% press subscription tax credit on eligible titles.

Beyond publishing, SO PRESS operates vertically integrated production and advertising subsidiaries — AllSo (brand content production), Sovage (high-end audiovisual production), Atelier Downtown (set design and SFX), AllSound (audio/sound design), So Lonely (publishing imprint), and H3 Media / Derby Digital (in-house advertising sales). Revenue thus spans consumer subscriptions (paper, digital, bundled), single-issue sales across print and digital storefronts, advertising across in-house and external digital properties (sofoot.com, trashtalk.co), professional services via production entities, and limited-edition merchandise sold through boutique.so. Customers are primarily French individual readers in sports, cinema, music and culture verticals, with secondary B2B demand from brands seeking integrated content production and premium advertising inventory.

Name

SO PRESS

Legal name

SO PRESS

Website

https://sopress.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SO PRESS is a French independent press publishing group operating 18+ magazine titles spanning football, cinema, music, culture and society, plus a proprietary Kiosque SO PRESS digital reading platform and integrated production services for French consumers and brand clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Independent Magazine Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120), Periodical Publishers (51312)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

News, Politics & Current Affairs Magazines (MPAJAEAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Print Media Buying (Newspapers & Magazines) (BPAFABAF)

Keywords

• Independent magazine publishing
• Digital newsstand platform
• Sports media publications
• Cultural press subscriptions
• Magazine print and digital

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Magazine Subscriptions (Paper & Digital): Recurring subscription revenue from monthly and bi-monthly magazine titles (SO FOOT, Society, Big Bang, L'étiquette Homme, and others), available in paper, digital, or combined formats. Subscriptions are monthly without commitment or can be multi-year, auto-renewing.
2. Digital Edition Single Issues: One-time purchase of individual electronic magazine editions via the Kiosque SO PRESS platform, the boutique web storefront, or in-app purchases on iOS and Android.
3. Print Magazine Single Issues: Individual paper magazine copies sold at newsstands and via the boutique web storefront.
4. Advertising: Display advertising and promotional content across SO PRESS websites (sofoot.com) and magazine titles, with programmatic and direct-sold placements. H3 Media is the ad sales division and Derby Digital manages sofoot.com and trashtalk.co ad operations.
5. Brand Content & Production Services: AllSo produces branded content for external clients; Sovage provides high-end production services. Atelier Downtown offers set design, SFX, and production support. These production entities generate revenue through creative and production contracts.
6. E-commerce / Merchandise: Sale of limited-edition SO PRESS branded merchandise via Boutique.so (boutique.so), including apparel and other products.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

SO PRESS is an independent French press publishing group that produces a portfolio of approximately 25 magazine titles spanning football (SO FOOT, Trashtalk), culture and society (Society, Big Bang, Doolittle), cinema (SO FILM), music (Tsugi, Billboard France), lifestyle (L'Étiquette Homme), and specialty niches (40A tennis, Pédale! cycling). The company sells print copies via newsstands and distributes digital editions through its proprietary Kiosque SO PRESS platform accessible via web reader and native iOS/Android apps, with monthly subscriptions and single-issue purchases processed through its own storefront and Stripe.

Product overview

SO PRESS is a French independent press publishing group operating a portfolio of magazine titles spanning football, general interest, culture, music, lifestyle, and specialty niches. The company's product ecosystem consists of two main pillars: a suite of approximately 25 print and digital magazine publications (including SO FOOT, Society, SO FILM, TSUGI, Billboard France, and several specialty titles such as 40A for tennis culture, Pédale! for cycling, and Doolittle for children's topics), and the Kiosque SO PRESS — a unified digital reading platform accessible via web reader and native iOS/Android applications that delivers electronic editions of all SO PRESS titles. The Kiosque supports both individual edition purchases and monthly subscription models (with paper-and-digital or digital-only options), and is integrated with Stripe for payment processing. Supporting the editorial brands are several sub-brands: AllSo (brand content production), SOVAGE (premium production), H3 Media (print advertising sales), Derby Digital (digital advertising for sofoot.com and trashtalk.co), So Lonely (publishing house), Vietnam (quality label), AllSOUND (audio/sound design), Atelier Downtown (set design and SFX), Boutique.so (merchandise e-commerce), SO FOOT Arena (podcast), and SO ME (internal social media management).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SO FOOT: Mensuel de foot, culture et société - Monthly football, culture and society magazine
• Society
• Big Bang
• L'Éiquette Homme
• SO FOOT Club
• VRAI FOOT DAY
• SO FILM
• SO GOOD
• Tampon!
• 40A
• Pédale!
• Trashtalk
• TSUGI
• Doolittle
• Sovage
• AllSo
• So Lonely
• Vietnam
• AllSound
• Atelier Downtown
• Boutique.so
• Degaine
• SO FOOT Arena
• BILLBOARD France
• Kiosque SO PRESS
• H3 Media
• Derby Digital

Products and services

• Kiosque SO PRESS Proprietary digital kiosk that delivers electronic editions of all SO PRESS magazine titles via a web reader and native iOS/Android apps, supporting both individual edition purchases and monthly subscriptions.
• SO FOOT Monthly magazine covering football, culture, and society; SO PRESS's flagship publication and one of the company's foundational brands.
• Society Bi-monthly (quinzomadaire) free and independent magazine covering general interest and society topics, distributed in paper and digital via the Kiosque SO PRESS.
• Big Bang

Quantifiable outcome

• Access to archives of all back issues for subscribers
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• OVHcoreTechnology or IntegrationOVH is the primary web hosting provider for the SO PRESS Kiosque digital reading platform, hosting the kiosk.sopress.net service and other web properties at its Roubaix, France data center.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe processes all online card payments for SO PRESS subscriptions, single-issue digital purchases, and magazine sales on the boutique storefront and Kiosque SO PRESS platform. Payment data is handled exclusively by Stripe; SO PRESS does not handle raw card data.
• Apple App StorecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorApple distributes the SoPress Kiosque mobile application through the iOS App Store, enabling discovery and in-app purchase of digital magazine editions. Apple retains a commission on in-app transactions.
• Google PlaycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorGoogle distributes the SoPress Kiosque Android application through Google Play, enabling discovery and in-app purchase of digital magazine editions. Google retains a commission on in-app transactions.
• MattermostcoreTechnology or IntegrationSO PRESS operates its own internal communication and collaboration platform (mattermost.sopress.net) powered by Mattermost software, used by all staff for day-to-day operations, project management, and internal communication.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Prisma Media: Prisma Media is a major French consumer magazine publisher (Gala, Voici, Capital, Télé-Loisirs), distributing both print and digital editions. It is the most direct competitor to SO PRESS as a multi-title French magazine group with its own subscription infrastructure.
• Groupe Bayard: Groupe Bayard is a French family-owned publishing group with a broad multi-title portfolio (La Croix, Notre Temps, J'aime Lire), serving similar subscription-driven, community-anchored niche audiences across print and digital. Same independent ownership profile and French press orientation as SO PRESS.
• Média-Participations: Média-Participations is a French independent multimedia group active in magazine publishing (Télé Star, We Demain, management books) and digital media. Closely mirrors SO PRESS's independent, vertically integrated publishing model in France.

Regional players

• Groupe EBRA: Groupe EBRA is the leading French regional daily newspaper publisher (Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, Le Dauphiné Libéré, Ouest-France). Comparable by virtue of French press orientation, but focused on regional daily newspapers rather than niche consumer magazines.
• Groupe La Martinière / Le Monde Magazine: Le Monde Magazine and Groupe La Martinière produce premium French print and digital magazine products bundled with their newspaper offerings. Comparable as high-quality independent French editorial brands targeting engaged audiences.

Broad incumbents

• Lagardère (Hachette / Lagardère News): Lagardère's publishing arm (Hachette) operates Paris Match, Le Journal du Dimanche, and Elle, making it a large incumbent French periodical publisher with broad sport, culture, and lifestyle coverage. Comparable by category but vastly larger scale than SO PRESS.
• Bauer Media Group: Bauer Media is a large European publisher of magazines and audio (Grazia, Closer, Bauer Audio), operating cross-device digital subscription models similar to SO PRESS Kiosque but at greater scale across multiple countries.
• Hearst Magazines France: Hearst France publishes magazines including ELLE, Harper's Bazaar, and Cosmopolitan. Comparable as a multi-title French consumer magazine publisher, but with much larger reach and a global parent (Hearst).
• Condé Nast France: Condé Nast publishes Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, and AD in France, operating similar high-end lifestyle, culture, and editorial brands. Comparable in premium editorial positioning, although it is a much broader global portfolio.

Emerging players

• Kontiki / So Lonely Editions (illustrative French independent press): Independent French magazine publishers such as XXI, 6Mois, and We Demain operate premium, long-form, subscription-driven content brands similar in spirit to SO PRESS's Society and Big Bang, but at smaller scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/societyofficiel
• Facebookfacebook.com/SocietyOfficiel

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries6 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 SO PRESS