Swindon Link Magazine

What Swindon Link Magazine does

Swindon Link is a community news publication operating in Swindon, United Kingdom, founded in 1978 and run under Positive Media Group Ltd. The company produces a free monthly print magazine distributed via hand delivery to 40,000 Swindon households plus 2,500 copies placed in public venues such as libraries, cafes, and community centres, available in North West and South East editions. Its core products are the print magazine, an online news portal (swindonlink.com), a categorized local Business Directory, an email newsletter, and a digital Magazine Archive spanning issues back to 1978. Content covers news, lifestyle, business, education, sport, leisure, and charity categories.

Name

Swindon Link Magazine

Legal name

Positive Media Group Ltd.

Website

https://swindonlink.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Swindon Link is a free monthly community magazine and online news portal serving Swindon, UK, founded in 1978. It reaches 40,000 households via print plus tens of thousands of monthly web visitors, monetized entirely through local SMB advertising across print, digital, directory, and newsletter channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Community News Publication

NAICS

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

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Alternative/Independent Newsweeklies & Opinion Press (MPAJADAH)

Keywords

• Community news publication
• Local print magazine
• Digital news portal
• Business directory listings
• Local advertising sales

Headquarters

HQ city

Swindon

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Advertising Revenue: The magazine is funded entirely by its advertisers. The publication offers advertising packages in both print and online formats, with discounts available for advertising in both North West and South East editions. Agency discounts of 10% and charity discounts of 20% are offered.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Swindon Link is a free community news publication serving the Swindon area, distributing 40,000 printed magazines monthly to households and 2,500 copies to public locations, alongside a continuously updated online news portal. Its content covers local news, lifestyle, business, education, sport, leisure, and charity. The publication is funded entirely by advertising revenue sold to local businesses, agencies, and charities.

Product overview

Swindon Link is a community news publication operated by Positive Media Group Ltd, offering both print and digital products. The core offering consists of a monthly print magazine distributed to 40,000 homes plus 2,500 copies to public venues across North West and South East Swindon editions. The online platform at swindonlink.com provides continuous news coverage across categories including News, Lifestyle, Business Brief, Education, Sport & Leisure, and Charity. Additional products include a Business Directory listing local services and a Magazine Archive spanning issues from 1978 to present. The publication is entirely advertiser-funded.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Swindon Link Magazine (Print) Monthly printed community magazine distributed free to 40,000 Swindon homes via hand delivery and 2,500 copies to public places such as libraries, cafes, and community centres. Available in North West and South East editions. Features news, lifestyle, business directory, and community content for Swindon residents.
• Swindon Link Website
• Business Directory Local business services directory on swindonlink.com featuring categorized listings of Swindon businesses across categories including accountancy, estate agents, funeral services, healthcare, and home services.
• Magazine Archive Digital archive of past Swindon Link magazine issues organized by year from 1990 to 2026, enabling access to historical coverage dating back to the publication's founding in 1978.
• Newsletter Subscription Email subscription service enabling readers to receive updates on the latest news and content from Swindon Link.

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Positive Media Group LtdcoreOthers · 1 January 1978Parent company of Swindon Publications Ltd. Established in 1978, Positive Media Group owns Swindon Link and its sister publication The Ink.
• The InkminorOthersSwindon Link's sister publication, also part of Positive Media Group Ltd. Both publications serve the Swindon community.
• Swindon Culture CollectiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork whose 'Do Swindon' website was featured in Swindon Link lifestyle coverage. Collaborative cultural promotion for the Swindon area.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• The Swindon Advertiser: The Swindon Advertiser is the historic local newspaper serving the same Swindon market as Swindon Link. Now published online-only by Newsquest, it competes directly for the same local news audience and SMB advertising budgets, though it has shifted away from free print distribution.
• Cotswold Life magazine: A monthly county lifestyle magazine covering the Cotswolds region adjacent to Swindon. It uses a similar print-plus-digital, advertiser-funded free-distribution model targeting affluent local readers and regional SMBs, making it a strong operational comparable.
• Bath Magazine: A free monthly lifestyle magazine distributed across the Bath and surrounding Somerset area. Operates the same advertiser-funded, free-to-reader print model with a companion website, making its business mechanics directly comparable to Swindon Link.
• Bristol Life magazine: A free monthly lifestyle and community magazine serving Bristol and surrounding areas with strong advertiser-funded revenue from local SMBs. Closely comparable in format, distribution approach, and revenue model to Swindon Link, just at a larger urban scale.

Regional players

• Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: A long-established weekly newspaper covering Wiltshire towns including Swindon's surrounding area, published by Newsquest. It is a comparable regional news publication serving an overlapping geographic audience and competing for similar local advertiser relationships.
• Newbury Weekly News: A long-running independent weekly newspaper covering West Berkshire, comparable to Swindon Link in scale, regional focus and advertiser-funded local news model. It shares the same value proposition of free local content funded by SMB advertising.

Broad incumbents

• Newsquest Media Group: One of the UK's largest regional newspaper publishers, owning titles including the Swindon Advertiser. It is a broad incumbent in the same local news space, offering overlapping reach and advertiser relationships but at much larger scale across hundreds of regional titles.
• Reach plc: The UK's largest national and regional news publisher (Mirror, Express, Star, plus regional titles including Bristol Post and Oxford Mail). A broad incumbent competitor in the regional advertiser-funded news space, though it operates at substantially greater scale than Swindon Link.
• Iliffe Media: A privately held UK regional publisher of local newspapers and magazines across the Midlands, East Anglia and South East. Operates multiple free and paid local titles with the same hybrid print-digital, advertiser-funded model as Swindon Link, making it a comparable private regional publisher.
• Country Living UK: A Hearst-published monthly lifestyle magazine covering rural UK topics. While broader in geographic scope, it competes for similar lifestyle content adjacency, regional advertiser relationships, and reader attention in the South West England market that Swindon Link serves.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/swindonlink

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 Swindon Link Magazine