Commercial partnerships with major brands are helping street magazine Big Issue diversify its income beyond its traditional vendor selling model.

Managing director Russell Blackman told Press Gazette the creative studio Big Issue Create is seeing “very positive year-on-year results” despite magazine revenue declining.

This is one part, he said, of building out “other revenue streams that support the core traditional business model of our magazine sales to vendors”.

Big Issue Create produces commercial content, advertorials, sponsored content, film content and contract publishing, putting out work across its own editorial platforms and via partner channels.

It works with media agencies and brands directly and partners have included: Specsavers, Giffgaff, Citroen, Nespresso and Experian.

Blackman pointed to the increasing trend of a “purpose-driven consumer”.

“We’ve seen that there is a greater demand for brands to seek out very credible and authentic platforms to demonstrate their commitment to doing good, essentially.” He added that ideally this work not only delivers commercial results for Big Issue partners, but also extends its own impact.

Big Issue has worked with Specsavers since 2022 when its vendors were welcomed into stores for a free eye test, glasses and ear wax removal despite the usual barriers from not having a fixed address. That scheme has since expanded more widely and in August Big Issue created 3,000 limited edition magazine copies at twice its usual size to highlight the reality of living with uncorrected sight problems.

Mobile operator Giffgaff has helped provide phones to Big Issue vendors and people facing barriers to work. These helped vendors take contactless payments when selling magazines for the first time.

Big Issue has ramped up its commercial content partnership output in the past couple of years, Blackman said.

“In a highly fragmented and low trust environment, I think we’re doing a good job in helping organisations connect the commercial objectives with genuine social good as well.”

Big Issue magazine has been sold on UK high streets since 1991 by a total of 110,000 homeless or vulnerable vendors. The vendors today buy the magazine from the publisher for £2.50 and sell it on for £5 (the price last increased from £4 in November 2025).

In the year to 31 March 2026, more than 1.5 million copies of Big Issue were sold by 3,287 vendors bringing in £3.3m according to figures shared by the publisher.

This was down 15% from revenue of £3.9m in the prior year (with 1.8 million magazines sold) according to Big Issue Group Companies House filings. Data does not include the North West or Yorkshire and the Humber as the Big Issue in these regions is operated separately by The Big Life Group.

Overall group revenue in the year to 31 March 2025 was £13m with profit before tax of £168,904. This includes Big Issue Invest which invests in social ventures tackling poverty, inequality and exclusion, Big Issue Changing Lives CIC which delivers support services, and Big Issue Recruit which helps at-risk people into work.

The media division, designed to support Big Issue’s mission in helping vulnerable individuals, was loss-making following “declines in cash usage, pressures on print markets, and structural shifts in consumer behaviour”.

A turnaround plan to get it back into profitability included more diversified income from commercial partnerships, digital transformation, including helping vendors take contactless payments, and “operational efficiencies and strategic cost realignment”.

A restructure took place in February this year that resulted in two top Big Issue digital editors being made redundant, as well as non-editorial changes.

Blackman said: “We had to make some hard decisions, and we had to get cost out of the business to ensure that we are positioned in a sustainable manner to continue to support our vendors.”

He said that “staying agile is absolutely essential because being in a position where we can’t afford to produce a magazine for our vendors simply isn’t an option for us.

“We have thousands of vendors relying on selling the Big Issue to earn a legitimate source of income every single week, and we feel that responsibility very, very keenly.”

The core Big Issue editorial team now consists of editor Steven MacKenzie, a deputy editor and three reporters supported by sub-editors, design and distribution staff.

In 2025, Big Issue had an average weekly circulation of 41,539 (of which 96% was in print). This was primarily (89%) single-copy sales with the rest coming from subscriptions.

The distribution of Big Issue is seasonal, growing in the run-up to Christmas when more vendors come on board to average 111,599 sales in December, versus 25,189 in August 2025.

Big Issue’s total average circulation is only down 2% compared to 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic. But focus is shifting online to protect the revenue that can be shared with vendors.

Blackman said its total brand reach across all platforms is now 3.5 million people per month – the highest it has been in its 35-year history.

The website had 259,502 global website visits in September according to Similarweb, of which 58% came from organic search and 23% came directly.

Blackman said: “We have not been immune to the challenges around and the impact of AI on direct traffic, but that just really means that we’ve got to get even more focused around building authority,” citing housing, homelessness, social justice and cost of living as its key content pillars.

“We can see that people are seeing the Big Issue as a credible, as a trusted and respected platform and voice that allows us to distil some of the biggest issues, really unpick those, understand who’s being most adversely impacted by them, but most important, what we see is that the readers, the users, are generally wanting to seek out how they can be part of the solution as well.

“So, for us it is very much focused around building richer, deeper engagement with our core audience. Obviously building a more direct relationship with that audience as well, and trying to encourage them to become supporters of Big Issue, whether it be through subscription or so forth.”

As of last month, Big Issue had 3,520 active subscribers. Those who choose not to buy in person can subscribe in print or digital through the website, either selecting a specific vendor to share 50% of the profit or, if not, Big Issue puts the money back into funding its operations and mission.

Blackman said Big Issue is also examining how vendors can sell a digital product for those who don’t want print, among other new digital solutions that he said were too early to share.

Subscriptions were first launched in the Covid-19 lockdown when vendors were unable to sell the magazine on the streets. At its peak during that time 10,000 people paid to subscribe to make up this shortfall. Big Issue also went into some shops for the first time, and now remains in Co-op stores.

Both ways of selling are “all about helping to build greater financial resilience to the overall business model”, Blackman said.

Editorially Blackman said they do a lot of collaborations to “try and ensure that every magazine is as collectible as possible, and there’s a real reason for people to go out and purchase it because that’s what drives the opportunity for the vendors to earn an income”.

He cited guest editors Chicken Shop Date creator Amelia Dimoldenberg and ex-trader and Youtube star Gary Stevenson and a collector’s cover in collaboration with Harry Styles all in recent months.

He also noted interviewees who choose to speak to Big Issue “who genuinely trust us with things that they’ll say nowhere else”, for example Prime Minister Andy Burnham discussing his plan to end rough sleeping.

Asked what makes him optimistic about the next phase of Big Issue, Blackman cited their plan to reinforce “credibility and authority on key subject matters when trust is so scarce. The Big Issue has a genuine opportunity to really reinforce our value of what we can offer consumers, both from a content perspective, whilst also obviously being the catalyst of positive change and unlocking opportunity for some of the most vulnerable people in society.

“And also there’s a lot of work going on around how we continue to evolve with a more digital-first lens on, in order to not take away from the magazine, but to ensure that we’re providing all the innovative solutions to unlock opportunity for vulnerable people.”

Blackman said Big Issue is “absolutely committed to doing more to address” issues like the record number of people in the UK living in “very deep poverty” and the continuing cost of living crisis.

“But it’s not necessarily going to be purely through a print magazine,” he added. “There’s a whole variety of different solutions to meet the very differing needs of people that are in a tough spot.”

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