Top Publishing Companies in the UK
There are 45,952 publishing companies in the UK. This page breaks that total down the way a list actually gets built — by sub-industry, by location, and by company size — so you can see how big the addressable slice is before you commit budget to a campaign.
Leading publishing companies
Ranked by employee band. Companies House does not publish revenue, and its employee figures are unreliable, so bands come from verified company profiles.
| # | Company | Website | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Economist | economist.com | 1,001–5,000 |
| 2 | Financial Times | ft.com | 1,001–5,000 |
| 3 | Vogue Business | voguebusiness.com | 51–200 |
| 4 | The Guardian | theguardian.com | 1,001–5,000 |
| 5 | Oxford University Press | oup.com | 5,001–10,000 |
| 6 | Africa Confidential | africa-confidential.com | 2–10 |
| 7 | Penguin Random House UK | penguin.co.uk | 1,001–5,000 |
| 8 | Marketing Week | marketingweek.com | 11–50 |
| 9 | Nature Portfolio | nature.com | 501–1,000 |
| 10 | Creative Review | creativereview.co.uk | 11–50 |
| 11 | Taylor & Francis Group | taylorandfrancis.com | 1,001–5,000 |
| 12 | Bloomsbury Publishing Plc | bloomsbury.com | 501–1,000 |
| 13 | The Lancet Group | thelancet.com | 201–500 |
| 14 | The Times and Sunday Times | thetimes.com | 501–1,000 |
| 15 | Dazed Magazine | dazeddigital.com | 51–200 |
| 16 | The Grocer | thegrocer.co.uk | 11–50 |
| 17 | The B1M | theb1m.com | 11–50 |
| 18 | The Art Newspaper | theartnewspaper.com | 11–50 |
| 19 | Design Week | designweek.co.uk | 11–50 |
| 20 | Property Week | propertyweek.com | 201–500 |
| 21 | Microbiology Society | microbiologysociety.org | 11–50 |
| 22 | reNEWS - Renewable Energy News | renews.biz | 11–50 |
| 23 | Drapers | drapersonline.com | 11–50 |
| 24 | The Independent | independent.co.uk | 201–500 |
| 25 | Event Industry News | eventindustrynews.com | 11–50 |
| 26 | Retail Gazette | retailgazette.co.uk | 11–50 |
| 27 | Reedsy | reedsy.com | 11–50 |
| 28 | The Lawyer | thelawyer.com | 51–200 |
| 29 | Wallpaper* | allpaper.com | 11–50 |
| 30 | TradeWinds | tradewindsnews.com | 51–200 |
| 31 | Monocle | monocle.com | 51–200 |
| 32 | Plant Based News | list-manage.com | 11–50 |
| 33 | The Bookseller | thebookseller.com | 11–50 |
| 34 | Dazed Media | dazedmedia.com | 51–200 |
| 35 | Sustainable Packaging News | spnews.com | 2–10 |
| 36 | BeInCrypto | beincrypto.com | 201–500 |
| 37 | Upstream | upstreamonline.com | 51–200 |
| 38 | Hachette UK | hachette.co.uk | 1,001–5,000 |
| 39 | New Scientist | newscientist.com | 51–200 |
| 40 | The Fintech Times | thefintechtimes.com | 11–50 |
| 41 | International Railway Journal | railjournal.com | 51–200 |
| 42 | BOAT International Media | boatinternational.com | 51–200 |
| 43 | The Publishers Association | publishers.org.uk | 11–50 |
| 44 | News UK | newscareers.co.uk | 1,001–5,000 |
| 45 | Hearst UK | hearst.co.uk | 501–1,000 |
| 46 | Females in Motorsport | femalesinmotorsport.com | 11–50 |
| 47 | Usborne Publishing | usborne.com | 201–500 |
| 48 | Condé Nast Britain | condenast.com | 501–1,000 |
| 49 | Civil Service World | civilserviceworld.com | 2–10 |
| 50 | RIBAJ | ribaj.com | 201–500 |
Need the full list with verified decision-maker contacts? Book a meeting.
The largest sub-industry is other software publishing with 14,019 companies, which is where most publishing outbound in the UK ends up pointed. The tail below it is usually less contested and worth a separate sequence.
Geographically it concentrates in London (16,936 companies), followed by Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham. If your reps work by territory, that split is the fastest way to divide the list.
By headcount, 6,885 are micro companies of 1–9 people and 363 sit in the 10–249 range — usually the sweet spot for outbound, since they are large enough to have a budget holder and small enough that the decision maker answers.
Publishing by sub-industry
| Sub-industry | Companies |
|---|---|
| Other software publishing | 14,019 |
| Other publishing activities | 13,253 |
| Book publishing | 9,870 |
| Publishing of computer games | 4,001 |
| Publishing of consumer and business journals and periodicals | 2,721 |
| Publishing of newspapers | 851 |
| Publishing of learned journals | 656 |
| Publishing of directories and mailing lists | 581 |
Where publishing companies are based
| City | Companies |
|---|---|
| London | 16,936 |
| Manchester | 703 |
| Cardiff | 552 |
| Birmingham | 496 |
| Glasgow | 479 |
| Bristol | 479 |
| Edinburgh | 403 |
| Cambridge | 351 |
| Leeds | 300 |
| Kington | 283 |
Publishing by company size
| Employees | Companies |
|---|---|
| 1–9 | 6,885 |
| 10–49 | 337 |
| 50–249 | 26 |
| 250–999 | 3 |
Headcount is published for 12,430 of these companies; the rest are in the database without a size band.
Frequently asked questions
How many publishing companies are there in the UK?
Our data covers 45,952 publishing companies in the UK, sourced from Companies House and refreshed continuously.
Can I get decision-maker contacts for publishing companies?
Yes. Every company record can be paired with verified decision-maker contacts — names, job titles, verified email addresses and direct phone numbers. Book a meeting and we will scope the list against your ICP.
How is the publishing segment defined?
Companies are classified using official industry codes from the business register, not keyword guesses on company names, so the segment boundaries match what the company actually registered as.