Bayard and So Press join forces to launch a football magazine for teenagers

Rather than attempting the individual feat, bayard Youth and SoPress prefer to play collectively. The leader of the youth press and the independent magazine press group are launching this Wednesday in co-edition a new monthly, “So Foot Club”. Intended for 10-15 year olds, this 52-page magazine will be sold for 4.90 euros on newsstands, or 55 euros per year in subscription for 11 issues.

With this dedicated paper title football, the two groups hope to “get back to reading for children who are now more on social networks,” according to the founder of So Press, Franck Annese, for whom “football is today one of the most shared pions, for both boys and girls. “About 560,000 10-15 year olds are licensed to the football federation, including a significant proportion of girls, adds Delphine Saulière, director of magazines at Bayard Jeunesse.

This new magazine takes the name of a title previously published by So Press, but which had missed its target, according to Franck Annese. “It was close to “So Foot”, with fairly long texts and a layout for thirty-somethings, not at all for teenagers, he admits. We thought it wouldn’t be silly to partner with a press group that knows the teen press by heart. »

Mix of cultures

Barely eight months after the first exchanges between Bayard and So Press, the first issue therefore appears on newsstands, with the cover Kylian Mbappe, the favorite personality of teenagers according to a recent poll by “Okapi” magazine. In this co-publishing, the revenues and costs of which are shared 50-50, with a team made up of employees from the two groups, each contributing their know-how.

On the So Press side, the expertise of football culture, “presented as a demanding sport, with a culture of effort, solidarity, collective, values, rather than a star thing with big cars”, summarizes Franck Annese. On the Bayard side, the sense of the image, the cutting of the articles and the writing to facilitate reading by the youngest. Everyone knew how to shake up their habits. “For the first time in our history, we made a number zero,” laughs Franck Annese, while Delphine Saulière had to learn to wrap a few days before printing, at the cost of “a few cold sweats”.

In the end, the title, which does not have a website even if a presence on social networks is envisaged, aims to distribute 15,000 copies for the first issue. The co-publishers dream of quickly gaining momentum on subscriptions, which constitute almost all of the distribution of Bayard Jeunesse titles (95% of the average 47,000 copies of “Okapi” in 2022, the same for the 17,000 copies of “Phosphore”) . At the same time, internship and holiday camp projects around football are also under consideration.

“There is a large pool of potential subscribers, supports Delphine Saulière. Our sales representatives are enthusiastic, they finally see the way to put the press back in the CDIs of the colleges”. On an almost empty niche, the opportunity is there. It remains to score the goal.