---
title: How The Athletic Grew a Niche Audience to ~1m Subscribers in 4 Years |
description: In 4 years, the sports news website The Athletic has become a guide for modern and legacy media entities with the guidance with Alex Mather
---

<https://www.nlopchantamang.com/trends>

# [How The Athletic Grew a Niche Audience to ~1m Subscribers in 4 Years |](https://www.nlopchantamang.com/trends/articles/how-the-athletic-grew-a-niche-audience-to-nearly-1m-subscribers-in-4-years)

 Written by [test](https://www.nlopchantamang.com/trends/author/test) | Jan 21, 2020 7:23:00 PM

In 4 years, the sports news website [The Athletic ](https://theathletic.com/)has become a guide for modern and legacy media entities, as well as niche-driven subscription businesses in many other markets, both in terms of revenue model and content. 

At a time when newspapers and online news sites were chasing page views, The Athletic introduced a subscription service, believing it provides more sustainable revenues and would allow journalists to focus on quality over quantity.

As of late 2019, The Athletic had nearly 1m subscribers paying ~$60 annually (many receive discounted rates), with ~$90m in funding. The company has grown from less than $100k in the first year to what Trends estimates to be ~$60m in revenue in year 4. As for journalistic accomplishments, The Athletic recently broke open the story of the World Series champion Houston Astros’ cheating scandal.   

[View full post](https://www.nlopchantamang.com/trends/articles/how-the-athletic-grew-a-niche-audience-to-nearly-1m-subscribers-in-4-years)

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