History Today

What History Today does

History Today is a privately held UK-based magazine publisher (History Today Ltd., company no. 1556332) that has been publishing a monthly history magazine since the early 1950s, now at Volume 76. The company produces a monthly print magazine covering historical topics from ancient civilizations to contemporary periods, alongside a digital edition distributed through the History Today mobile app on iOS and Android and via the company website. Its content is authored by named historians and organized into recurring editorial sections including Features, History Matters, Great Debates, Reviews, Interviews, Head to Head, and Months Past, positioning the publication as a serious history title for a broad audience.

The core technology is a digital publishing platform comprising a website-based archive, mobile applications, and subscription infrastructure. The proprietary digital archive spans all past issues and is monetized through individual and institutional subscriptions, with the institutional tier offering IP-based or username-based access for libraries, universities, and other organizations globally. Distribution channels include UK newsstands for print, direct-to-consumer e-commerce via the website, mobile app stores, and enterprise institutional sales across at least 16 countries. Marketing is content-led through the website, the free weekly Miscellanies email newsletter, and an active social presence on X, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky.

The business model is subscription-based. Individual print subscriptions are priced at £75/year, digital archive access at £70/year, and the combined print and digital bundle at £105/year. Institutional tiers are priced at £250/year for 10 concurrent logins and £600/year for unlimited IP-based access, targeting academic libraries and research organizations. Single print and digital issues are also sold individually. Customer segments span individual history enthusiasts, students with discounted rates, and academic institutions, with a hybrid segmentation approach across personas, business units, and size tiers. The company does not disclose revenue, has no parent company, no subsidiaries, no disclosed institutional investors, and no M&A or funding activity in the available record.

Name

History Today

Legal name

History Today Ltd.

Website

https://historytoday.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1951

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

History Today is a privately held UK magazine publisher that has produced a monthly history magazine since the early 1950s, serving individual history enthusiasts, students, and academic institutions through print subscriptions, a digital archive, mobile apps, and the free Miscellanies newsletter across 16+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

History Magazine Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312), Periodical Publishers (513120), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Literary Magazines (MPAJAEAN)

Keywords

• History magazine publishing
• Digital archive subscription
• Institutional library access
• Historical content publishing
• Periodical print magazine

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Print Magazine Subscriptions: Monthly print magazine subscription delivered to subscribers, with individual and gift subscription options available
2. Digital Archive Subscriptions: Full digital archive access for individual and institutional subscribers
3. Institutional Subscriptions: Site-wide IP-based or user-specific digital access for academic institutions, libraries, and organizations
4. Single Issue Sales: Individual print and digital issue purchases available through the website and UK newsstands

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

History Today publishes a monthly history magazine featuring peer-reviewed articles, book reviews, interviews with historians, and historical analysis spanning ancient civilizations to contemporary events. The company sells print and digital subscriptions to individual readers and offers institutional subscriptions providing digital archive access to libraries, universities, and academic organizations. Supporting offerings include a free weekly newsletter (Miscellanies), back issues for individual purchase, and mobile apps for iOS/Android.

Product overview

History Today operates as a publishing company offering a portfolio of historical content products centered around its monthly History Today Magazine. The core offering includes the print and digital magazine featuring articles, reviews, interviews, and debates on historical topics. Supporting products include a Digital Archive of all past issues, the History Today App for mobile reading, the free weekly Miscellanies newsletter, individual Back Issues for purchase, and Institutional Subscriptions for organizational access. These products work together to serve individual readers, educators, researchers, and institutions with historical content spanning ancient to contemporary periods.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• History Today: The World's Leading History Magazine - monthly publication covering historical topics
• Miscellanies

Products and services

• History Today Magazine
• Digital Archive
• History Today App
• Miscellanies Newsletter
• Back Issues
• Institutional Subscriptions

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• BBC History Magazine: BBC History Magazine is the closest direct competitor — a UK-based monthly history magazine selling consumer and institutional subscriptions with a similar mission of bringing serious history to a wide audience. It shares the same reader demographics, price points, and retail channels as History Today.
• HistoryExtra: HistoryExtra is the digital companion to BBC History Magazine and operates the same subscription, archive, and newsletter model. It is directly comparable in product mix (digital archive + magazine + podcast) and competes for the same institutional library budgets.
• All About History: All About History is a UK-based monthly history magazine with consumer subscriptions and a digital presence, targeting the same enthusiast audience as History Today with comparable pricing and a similar newsstand distribution model.
• Prospect Magazine: Prospect is a UK-based monthly intellectual magazine covering ideas, culture, and current affairs with similar subscription pricing, newsstand presence, and audience profile. It competes for the same discretionary subscription dollars from UK-based readers with similar demographics.
• London Review of Books: The London Review of Books is a UK-based fortnightly intellectual publication operating on a subscription model with a deep digital archive and similar institutional offerings. It shares the print-plus-digital subscription model and academic library channel with History Today.
• Apollo Magazine: Apollo Magazine is a UK-based monthly covering the arts, culture, and history with consumer and institutional subscriptions. It targets a closely overlapping audience of history and culture enthusiasts with a similar subscription pricing structure.
• The Times Literary Supplement: The TLS is a UK-based weekly literary and intellectual review with subscription and institutional access products. It competes in the same UK intellectual-magazine subscription category as History Today and shares similar institutional library sales channels.

Broad incumbents

• Smithsonian Magazine: Smithsonian Magazine is a large US-based history, science, and culture publication with consumer subscriptions and a deep digital archive. It is comparable as a periodical publisher serving history enthusiasts with institutional and consumer subscriptions, though it operates at materially larger scale.
• National Geographic: National Geographic is a global incumbent in long-form periodical publishing with print, digital, and institutional products. It is comparable as a subscription-based magazine publisher with a deep archive and consumer/institutional revenue mix, though it spans science, nature, and culture rather than history alone.
• The New York Review of Books: The New York Review of Books is a long-running US-based intellectual periodical with subscription revenue, a digital archive, and institutional access. It is comparable as a subscription-driven magazine publisher serving a similar scholarly general-interest audience.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/historytoday
• Facebookfacebook.com/historytoday
• Instagramhistorytoday.com/instagram
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/history-today-magazine

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 History Today