Southport Magazine

What Southport Magazine does

Southport Magazine is an independent local community magazine founded in October 2012 by Bethany Turner and Kris Beasley, now owned by Beasley with Turner serving as editor. The publication covers five southeastern North Carolina coastal communities — Southport, Oak Island, Boiling Spring Lakes, Bald Head Island, and St. James — producing monthly issues with editorial content spanning local culture, events, business features, arts and entertainment, and dining guides. The magazine operates a dual print-and-digital distribution model: physical copies are placed at local businesses, visitor centers, and retail locations across the coverage area (accessible via a 'Find a Copy' locator on the website), while a full digital archive dating back to the 2012 launch is hosted on the southportmag.com WordPress site and syndicated via Issuu, RSS, and email newsletter. The core technology stack is a standard WordPress CMS with no documented AI, API, or proprietary platform features.

The business is monetized entirely through local advertising, with an 'Advertise with Us' section on the website and a Marketplace listing for SMB advertisers. Revenue is generated by selling ad space and editorial features to local businesses seeking visibility among residents and tourists in Brunswick County. The company employs approximately 9 people and maintains strategic editorial partnerships with the Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce, the Brunswick Arts Council, ScreenDoor Songwriter Alliance, Brunswick County Schools, and the NC Maritime Museum. In 2015 the magazine introduced the Maggie Awards, a reader-voted recognition program for local businesses, which reinforces community engagement and advertiser value. Southport Magazine is privately held with no institutional investment, no parent company, and no disclosed funding rounds; it operates as a small, locally-owned media business.

Name

Southport Magazine

Legal name

Southport Magazine

Website

https://southportmag.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Southport Magazine is an independent monthly community magazine founded in 2012, covering local culture, events, businesses, and dining across five southeastern North Carolina coastal communities, distributed in print and online via WordPress, with revenue from local SMB advertising.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Print Media

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Literary Magazines (MPAJAEAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

News, Politics & Current Affairs Magazines (MPAJAEAO)

Keywords

• Local community magazine
• Regional print publication
• Local advertising media
• Community events coverage
• Dining guide publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Southport

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Advertising: The magazine generates revenue through local advertising, with an 'Advertise with Us' section visible on the website. Local businesses are featured in editorial content and can purchase advertising space in the publication.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Southport Magazine is a monthly local community magazine that covers culture, events, dining, arts, and business news for the Southport, Oak Island, Boiling Spring Lakes, Bald Head Island, and St. James communities of Brunswick County, North Carolina. The publication is delivered as a print magazine distributed at local pickup points and as a digital edition on its website, supported by advertising sold to local businesses. Editorial sections include Currents (community news), Biz Q&A and Biz Feature, Events, Showcase (art, literature, music), Savor/Cheers/Kitchen/Dining Guide, and a community calendar.

Product overview

Southport Magazine is a single, unified local community publication covering the Southport area of North Carolina. The product operates as a monthly magazine featuring local culture, events, business features, dining guides, and community news. Content is distributed via print copies and a digital edition accessible through Issuu. The publication covers categories including community news (Currents), business features (Biz Q&A, Biz Feature), events calendar, art and literature showcases, dining (Savor/Cheers/Kitchen/Dining Guide), and local lifestyle content.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Southport Magazine (Monthly Print & Digital Publication) A monthly community magazine covering culture, events, dining, business features, arts, and community news for the Southport, Oak Island, and Brunswick County area of North Carolina, distributed in print at local businesses and digitally through the website.
• Dining Guide

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of CommercecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe magazine collaborates with the Chamber on major local events including the U.S. Open King Mackerel Tournament, providing coverage and promotional support for Chamber-organized activities that drive regional engagement.
• Brunswick Arts CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with the Brunswick Arts Council for arts and cultural event coverage, including the Charles Dickens Christmas Festival and various art exhibitions in the region.
• ScreenDoor Songwriter AllianceminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMagazine provides editorial coverage and promotional support for the Southport Songwriters Festival, a community music event benefiting ScreenDoor programs for veterans and children.
• Brunswick County SchoolsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe magazine covers educational and youth-focused events in partnership with Brunswick County Schools, including student performances and community programs.
• NC Maritime MuseumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoverage partnership with the NC Maritime Museum for historical events and educational programming in the Southport area, including War of 1812 commemorations.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Wilmington Magazine: Wilmington Magazine is a monthly city/lifestyle magazine serving Wilmington, NC and the surrounding coastal communities. It shares the same print-plus-digital local lifestyle model, dining and arts coverage, and advertising-driven revenue stream as Southport Magazine, and overlaps geographically with Southport's readership across the Cape Fear coast.
• Charlotte Magazine: Charlotte Magazine is a monthly city magazine covering Charlotte, NC. It is structurally identical to Southport Magazine — local lifestyle content (dining, arts, business, events), print + digital distribution, and advertising-driven revenue — making it a strong comparable for evaluating unit economics, ad rate cards, and digital monetization of a regional monthly.
• Cape Fear Magazine: Cape Fear Magazine is a monthly lifestyle and culture magazine covering Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear region of North Carolina. It directly parallels Southport Magazine in format (monthly local lifestyle magazine), audience (coastal NC residents and tourists), and revenue model (local SMB advertising plus events). Both publications compete for the same regional tourism advertisers and overlapping Brunswick/New Hanover county readers.
• Walter Magazine: Walter Magazine is a monthly lifestyle and culture magazine covering Raleigh, NC. It is a directly comparable local city-magazine format (monthly print + digital, dining/arts/community coverage, advertising-led revenue) operating in a different North Carolina metro but with the same publishing model and value proposition as Southport Magazine.

Broad incumbents

• Our State Magazine: Our State is a long-established North Carolina statewide travel and lifestyle magazine. It is a broader-scope incumbent that overlaps with Southport Magazine's content categories (coastal NC dining, travel, arts) and competes for the same regional tourism advertising budgets, but at much larger scale and statewide reach.
• Patch.com (local NC sites): Patch operates hyperlocal digital news sites across the U.S., including Brunswick County, NC. It is a broader-scale incumbent competing for the same local advertisers and residents' attention as Southport Magazine but through a digital-only, algorithmic/news-feed format rather than a curated monthly print magazine.

Emerging players

• Coastal Review (CoastalReview.org): Coastal Review is an online nonprofit news outlet covering North Carolina's coast. It overlaps with Southport Magazine in geographic focus and some subject matter (coastal environment, community news, tourism) but is digital-first and nonprofit, making it an emerging/alternative competitor for reader attention and local advertiser dollars in the same coastal NC market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCW96bbdaZ5EZPaF2JhylgzQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/SouthportMagazine
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/southport-magazine

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Southport Magazine