Launched in 2007 with the mission to revolutionise regional media, Gloucestershire's leading media brand SoGlos celebrates 17 years of being in business on 16 July 2024, with plenty of reasons to celebrate in the first six months of the year already and some burgeoning expansion plans in the pipeline.
Growing audience
Setting the standard for consistently exceptional digital storytelling, SoGlos has seen substantial growth of its readers, followers and subscribers in 2024 — now reaching a 312,000-strong monthly audience.
Award recognition
SoGlos was awarded the ‘highly commended’ recognition in the 2024 AOP Awards for Best Online Consumer Media Brand in the UK — just narrowly missing out on the title to media giant Telegraph Media Group — with SoGlos now in the international finals for Best Regional Website in Press Gazette's Future of Media Awards.
Proprietary tech
Alongside steadily growing commercial success, there has been extensive continued investment to elevate and streamline systems and processes in 2024 as part of developing our revolutionary, proprietary publishing system, SoCMS.
Team development
A swathe of promotions and important new hires have continued to cement the position of the SoGlos team as the largest and most experienced in Gloucestershire.
In April 2024, Michelle Fyrne was appointed chief executive officer at SoPublishing, with James Fyrne maintaining his pivotal role as managing director at SoPublishing — and both co-founders equally focused on achieving long-term sustainable growth within the company's newly-formed Leadership Hub.
SoGlos appointed Chloe Gorman as editor following four highly-successful years as deputy editor. She now leads SoGlos's Creative Hub, which includes a team of seven professional journalists.
Annabel Lammas was promoted to SoGlos deputy editor, having also grown with the company since joining as a staff writer more than four years ago, while Zoe Gater was promoted to senior staff writer.
Jake Chown joined the team as staff writer in February 2024, bringing with him four years of newspaper journalism experience from Tindle Newspapers; and University of Gloucestershire journalism graduate, Kaleigh Pritchard, has also joined the team as a staff writer.
Michelle Fyrne said: 'It is deeply rewarding seeing SoGlos grow as a brand that our readers and partners have valued and trusted for almost two decades and it wouldn’t have been possible without the passion, hard work and talent of our team.'
Team expansion
SoGlos is also currently recruiting for a sales manager and sales executives to join its Partnerships Hub.
Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond...
Setting the modern standard for regional media excellence and sustainability, SoGlos combines quality content produced by professional journalists, cutting-edge publishing and business management technology, a growing and highly engaged audience with proven commercial services developed in close partnership with advertisers.
It is a unique combination that makes the burgeoning So model one to watch — with geographical expansion central to SoPublishing's growth plans and work having already began on expanding into Bristol in 2025.
Michelle Fyrne said: 'As well as focusing on enhancing commercial sustainability, strengthening our relationship with our audience and significantly investing in proprietary tech, our mission to revolutionise regional media includes big plans around portfolio expansion.'
James Fyrne added: 'We've never been in a stronger position or more excited about the future. It's been an exhilarating 17 years to get to this point and we can't wait to achieve our ambitions for the next 17 years.'
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