happenOnion back prints. It brings over 50,000 new subscribers
In today's digital first world, this sounds like a joke, but the satirical news outlet of Onion made it reprinted a year ago.
It pays off: In addition to its active website, print publications now have over 53,000 subscribers.
Onions are known for their keen current activities, originally launched on August 29, 1988 in Madison, Wisconsin. It stopped printing in 2013 and was completely digital.
But in August 2024, under new ownership, Onion announced a monthly print edition that was delivered to subscribers by email.
Onion executive editor Jordan Laflure with happen Host Nil Köksal about the “quite unexpected situation” they found themselves and what their experience with the future of the media may reveal.
It sounds like you and the team are surprised a year later.
Yes, I won't bring you details. I would rather focus on the present and the future, but my staff and I have gotten rid of the former ownership that has not given us a very positive feeling.
Our rise a year and a half ago was very unexpected.
What did the new owner say and do to get you to this place?
I mean, in fact, all they do is empower us and not to do too much credibility with me and the team, but I feel like the last year or so what we have done is to execute the vision we have long had: return to print, reacting to old business models, enduring the old business models, and I don't work at all, and I mean Banner Adnner Ads in ewern aDs inners inte nebs ints innocents.
I would love to continue to power Theonion.com, which is an important place for us to brand, but rely entirely on the website to generate the revenue needed to support us, and the brand writs of a lot of thinking is outdated.
The new leader has done a great job of investigating the current media landscape, and he recognizes that we need to earn income directly from our readers, rather than relying on the website.
Long story short, it's working. We are not satisfied with this.
Editor and writer made a copy at a draft meeting at the New York Onion Office on October 30, 2008. (Seth Wenig/AP)
Who are your subscribers?
We misrepresented a little male. I believe our largest cohort from an age group perspective is 35 to 44.
Interestingly, I also learned that young people like to print us too.
What's the difference besides appearing once a month in the printed version?
First, I just emphasize that when the context is the onion itself, the experience of eating onions improves a lot.
That way, I mean in a social media environment. I am proud of the work we do, I am proud of every joke we post (in most cases), and the experience of consuming it on social media is similar to comparison.
We have a lot of jokes that benefit from adjacency to other jokes. It provides a contrast that it may be interesting in itself. To have this enclosed space, enjoying the enclosed room with onions is just a better way to eat.
You know better than most people, and even during tough times, the kind of work you and your team do in satire is certainly fertile. What is this special moment, not only in the United States, but around the world like you and your team? Is this easier or more difficult?
First, I want to say that irony is an ancient art, and unfortunately, we are not that unique in these uneasy times.
Of course, it has a unique component, but the ability to do with satire is relative to the first uneasy, turbulent political era in world history.
The irony tools are robust, they are consistent, so we just keep using them no matter the times we live in.
That is the answer to confidence. The second level I can offer is that it is actually hard to ironic a government that acts in such a high way, one person, one person [and] Way.
I think this makes it a responsibility to comment on the characters around us. I'm suggesting [U.S. President Donald] Trump didn't say his name, I pretended to be Voldemort. Commenting on Trump can be difficult, but we have found ways to do this by commenting on people around us.
Last year, the economist wrote: “For publications dedicated to teasing newspapers, back on paper is the ultimate troll. If the onion succeeds, the joke will escape this format among everyone else.”
Do you think this is the ultimate troll?
I think so. I haven't considered it from these terms, which is great to hear.
The truth is that while one of the many purposes of our irony is to get traditional media to take into account, I will provide it on a personal level, but I am actually cheering for traditional media.
As a news consumer, I need a better journalism industry. To be a fully functional society, we need to get good, honest, and authentic reports.
I also recognize that I have worked in traditional media and that these organizations have failed to find a business model that will better sustain this effort, which is a problem for all of us.
While it’s fun to work in the United States that is certainly one of the few rising printing products, maybe it could be the world, I think if there are other media brands that have achieved the same success, then we can all live in a better world.
Do you think they can learn from the model, or is the content you produce that attracts people?
This is a good question. I don't want to ignore the fact that onions are in a unique position and we already have a lot of stars with us visiting where we are.
I didn’t know that every media brand on the planet has the same ability to use prints to improve their financial future.
That said, I do think what they can learn is that if you can be bold and if you can find resources to try new things, it is still possible to actually gain or restore audiences even in our Jehovah 2025.