Breaking the Barrier: How Launchpad Magazine Reached 3.4M Verified Online Views Without Paywalls, Subscriptions or Data Capture
- Chris Welford
- 11 minutes ago
- 9 min read
While most publishers discuss growing readership through funnels, gated content, and monetised access, Launchpad Magazine took a different path, one built on inclusion, not restriction. The result? 3.4M verified online views across the UK, achieved through a publishing model designed to champion the people, businesses, and stories usually left out of mainstream media.
Published: 2 November 2025 | Reading time: 9 minutes | Category: Published Media & Community Publishing
The Publishing Industry Built Walls. We Chose Not To.
For the past decade, digital publishing has been dominated by one idea: if you want to sustain journalism, you need to lock content behind a wall. That wall might be a subscription, a compulsory email form, a metered paywall, or a premium tier. And for many publishers, the logic makes sense. But that logic collapses the moment your mission is to serve people who are already excluded.
Launchpad Magazine was created for disabled and neurodivergent communities across the UK, communities historically underserved, misrepresented or ignored by mainstream media, and often priced out of it entirely. We exist to tell the stories that matter: the small business owner who started their creative enterprise from their living room, the charity founder driven by personal tragedy to create change, the disabled entrepreneur who traditional media have never interviewed, and the forgotten local histories that have shaped our communities.
So instead of building walls, we removed them.
"Access isn't a feature. It's the foundation."
And the numbers proved something the publishing industry didn't expect: that removing the barriers would lead to people showing up. Across all issues combined, Launchpad Magazine has now surpassed 3.4 million verified online views, measured through analytics from Wix, Google Ads, and Meta platforms, with bot traffic and overseas activity excluded. Not 3.4M subscribers. Not 3.4M gated accounts. 3.4M real, UK-based article views, with no paywall, no log-in, no "enter your email to continue".
We Are Launchpad Magazine
Launchpad Magazine is part of Launchpad Futures CIC, a Community Interest Company providing integrated services for disabled and neurodivergent people across Northwest England. But the magazine isn't just another service in our portfolio; it's the voice, the platform, the megaphone for everything else we do.
What We Actually Do
We champion small, creative businesses that traditional media ignores. We conduct in-depth interviews that go beyond surface-level promotion to understand what makes people in our communities get up in the morning. We ask the questions that matter: Why did you start your charity? What personal experience drove you to create this social enterprise? What keeps you going when times get hard?
We tell forgotten history — the disabled activists who fought for rights we take for granted, the neurodivergent innovators whose contributions were erased from mainstream narratives, the community organisations that quietly transformed lives without recognition.
We give people free, genuine exposure for their business, project, cause, or passion. Not sponsored content disguised as journalism. Not pay-to-play advertorials. Real stories about real people doing real work in our communities.
What Launchpad Magazine covers:
Small business spotlights: Disabled entrepreneurs, neurodivergent creators, parent-led microbusinesses that need platform exposure
Personal stories that inspire: Why people started their charities, what drives community leaders, the individual tragedies that became missions
Forgotten local histories: Disability rights movements, community organising, hidden contributions of marginalised groups
Business advice through example: How successful community businesses create content, build audiences, and tell their stories authentically
Charity origin stories: Understanding the "why" behind organisations, the lived experiences that created movements
Creative enterprise journeys: From living room start-ups to established community businesses
This is what sets Launchpad Magazine apart. We're not just reporting on disability and neurodiversity. We're platforming the people who are building businesses, starting charities, creating art, organising communities, and changing systems — all while navigating barriers that mainstream media never acknowledges.
Why Traditional Publishing Models Exclude the People Who Need Access Most
Most magazines, even digital ones, assume that every reader has:
Disposable income
No accessibility needs
Comfort with data forms and tracking
The ability to create accounts and manage passwords
A stable device and connection
The cognitive bandwidth to complete sign-up screens
That assumption ignores reality.
The Cost of Barriers in the UK
In the UK, disabled households are statistically more likely to have lower income, higher living costs and less financial stability. Research shows that 22% of adults with disabilities report avoiding services that require repeated form-filling, logins, or data exchange.
The small business owner we want to interview can't afford a £10/month subscription to read their own feature. The charity founder, trying to share their story, faces barriers to accessing the content. The disabled entrepreneur deserving platform exposure can't even read about their own community because mainstream publications lock it away.
So when publishers put content behind access friction, they aren't just making a business choice. They are making an exclusion choice.
"If your publishing model filters out the people you're claiming to serve, then it's not inclusion, it's PR."
Launchpad was built on the opposite principle: if the content is meant for everyone, it must be reachable by everyone. And if we're giving businesses and causes free exposure, that exposure needs to be genuinely accessible, not locked behind paywalls their customers can't access.
What True Open-Access Publishing Looks Like
Open access is one of the most misused terms online. Most "free" platforms still extract a cost — your data, your email, your profile, your behaviour.
Launchpad's model is different:
No paywall
No subscription tier
No account sign-in
No email capture
No advertising cookies
No forced "accept marketing consent" screen
Fully readable without JavaScript pop-ups
Accessible on mobile, tablet, desktop, screen readers and text-only browsers
"If you have an internet connection, you can read it. That's the whole rule."
This wasn't a branding decision. It was an ethical one.
When we interview a disabled business owner about their creative enterprise, they need to be able to share that article freely with their customers, their community, and their potential supporters. When we write about a charity's founding story, the people that the charity serves need to read it without barriers. When we spotlight forgotten history, the descendants and community members who lived that history deserve access without extraction.
How We Reached 3.4M Verified Online Views Without Any of the Usual Tactics
Most publishers grow by building email lists, running newsletter funnels, converting free users into paid users, locking valuable content behind membership walls, and restricting sharing to control access. Launchpad did none of that.
Instead, the model was built on three pillars.
1. Stories People Can't Find Anywhere Else
Mainstream media treats disability and neurodiversity as stories about people — not stories by people, and indeed not stories that platform people. When The Guardian interviews a person with a disability, it's usually about policy or tragedy. When the BBC covers small businesses, it's rarely disability-led enterprises. Local papers might cover a charity fundraiser, but they won't dive deep into why the founder started their mission or what personal experience drove them.
Launchpad Magazine does what traditional media won't
Our editorial approach:
In-depth business interviews: Understanding the "why" behind creative enterprises, not just the "what"
Charity origin stories: The personal tragedies, lived experiences, and moments of clarity that created organisations
Free business platform exposure: Giving small businesses genuine editorial coverage without pay-to-play models
Content creation advice: Teaching businesses how to tell their stories by example through our interviews
Community history documentation: Recording forgotten disabled activists, local organising, hidden contributions
Personal narrative storytelling: First-person accounts of navigating systems, building businesses, creating change
Accessible travel guides: Real reviews from disabled travellers, not generic accessibility checklists
SEND family experiences: School battles, care navigation, parenting while disabled
Neurodiversity in work and education: Practical accommodation advice, system navigation, success stories
Assistive technology honest reviews: What actually works, not manufacturer marketing
There is no "equivalent" mainstream publication doing this work. No national outlet consistently interviews disabled business owners about their creative journeys. No magazine regularly documents why charities came into existence from their founders' perspectives. No publication gives small community enterprises a free, barrier-free platform for exposure. That gap created demand. And we filled it.
"You don't need to force people to subscribe when you're publishing what no one else is willing to say — and platforming people who've never been given a platform."
2. Platform Exposure That Actually Benefits Businesses
When we interview a business owner or charity founder, we're not just writing an article; we're creating a lasting impact. We're creating shareable content that they can use in their own marketing. We're providing them with quotes they can use for social media. We're documenting their story in a way that helps potential customers understand their mission.
And because there's no paywall, businesses can share their feature freely. The charity can link to its origin story without worrying about reader access. The creative entrepreneur can use their interview in grant applications, investor pitches, and community presentations.
This isn't just good journalism. It's community infrastructure. We're not extracting value from our subjects — we're creating value for them.
3. SEO and Findability That Serves Communities
We didn't chase clickbait. We wrote detailed, valuable, long-form content that answered real questions real people were searching for. When someone searches "disabled business owners UK," Launchpad Magazine's interviews appear. When charity founders search "starting a disability charity," our founder stories provide guidance, and when creative entrepreneurs search "how to tell my business story," our examples show them how.
Google became our biggest free distribution engine — not because we hacked it, but because we published what people needed: real stories, real businesses, honest advice, all barrier-free.
Why We Filter Out Bot Traffic and Overseas Views
Some publishers inflate numbers with "total impressions", "global reach", or "estimated audience size". We don't.
Our 3.4M figure removes:
Bot traffic
Web crawlers and scrapers
Duplicate page reloads
International views
Traffic outside the UK mission remit
"3.4M verified online views" = real people, in the UK, reading content with no barrier between them and the page.
That is why funders trust the number. That is why business owners value being featured. That is why we publish the methodology openly.
The Economics of a Free Magazine Inside a CIC Model
"How do you fund it if no one pays to read it?"
Answer: because the point is impact, not extraction.
Launchpad Magazine is part of Launchpad Futures CIC, which operates across multiple integrated services: accessible transport, inclusive hospitality training, business acceleration for disabled entrepreneurs, digital safety education, and community advocacy. The magazine serves as the voice for all these initiatives while maintaining editorial independence.
As a Community Interest Company, we are legally obligated to operate for the benefit of the community, not for private profit. Revenue comes through grants, ethical partnerships, and our social enterprises — not by extracting money or data from readers, and certainly not by charging the small businesses and charities we exist to support.
Users don't pay to read.
Featured businesses don't pay for coverage.
Readers aren't monetised.
Data isn't sold
Content isn't restricted
The result? A magazine that works like public infrastructure, not a product locked behind checkout.
What 3.4M Views Actually Means for Disability Media in the UK
It proves there was hidden demand, not for inspirational stories or charity narratives, but for serious journalism that platforms real people doing real work. It proves disabled and neurodivergent communities want to read about businesses, charities, and creative enterprises led by people like them. They want origin stories, not press releases. They want to understand what drives community leaders, not just what their organisations do.
It proves that access-first publishing builds bigger audiences than barrier-first publishing. And it demonstrates that when you give people free platform exposure, they share it widely, creating organic reach that paywalled content could never achieve.
"It proves that people don't need to be gated, captured, tracked or converted to value journalism that actually serves them."
Representation Through Platform
Before Launchpad Magazine, disabled business owners rarely got mainstream media interviews. Charity founders shared their stories in funding applications but not in accessible journalism. Creative entrepreneurs built businesses without anyone documenting their journeys. Community organisers created change without recognition.
Now there's a publication that gives them a platform, tells their stories, documents their contributions, and makes it all freely accessible to the communities they serve.
This representation drives engagement. Readers return because they see people like themselves building businesses, starting movements, creating change. The 3.4M views represent communities finding media that finally platforms them rather than just reporting on them.
Where We Go Next
The next milestone isn't just bigger numbers. It's more business platforms, more charities' origin stories told, more forgotten history documented, and more creative entrepreneurs given the interviews they deserve. Launchpad Magazine wasn't built to compete with mainstream publications. It was built because mainstream publications failed to give communities the platform they deserved.
Expanding Our Platform
As Launchpad Magazine grows, our commitment remains unchanged:
More business spotlights: Disabled entrepreneurs, neurodivergent creators, parent-led microbusinesses
Deeper interviews: Understanding not just what people do, but why they do it
More forgotten histories: Documenting disabled activists, community organising, hidden contributions
Content creation guidance: Teaching by example how businesses can tell their stories
Regional coverage: Ensuring representation across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland
New formats: Video interviews with captions, audio versions, easy-read adaptations
All while maintaining: no paywalls, no pay-to-play, no barriers. Just genuine platform exposure for people who deserve it.
We Are Launchpad Magazine
We champion small businesses by giving them free editorial coverage. We understand what makes charity founders get up in the morning by asking them directly. We document forgotten history before it's lost. We tell personal stories that inspire action. We give platform exposure that businesses can actually use.
And we do it all without extraction, without barriers, without walls.
No paywalls.
No pay-to-play.
No barriers.
Just stories that matter, freely accessible.
3.4M verified online views — and growing.
About Launchpad Magazine
Launchpad Magazine is a free, open-access digital publication operated by Launchpad Futures CIC, dedicated to disability, neurodiversity, community storytelling and lived-experience journalism across the UK. We champion small businesses, document the origin stories of charities, tell forgotten histories, and provide genuine platform exposure for creative enterprises — all free to read, with no subscriptions, no email capture, and no paywall.
Launchpad Futures CIC offers integrated services, including accessible transport, inclusive hospitality training, business acceleration, digital safety education, and community advocacy, across Northwest England.
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Analytics Transparency:
"3.4M verified online views" refers to the total number of UK-based digital article views recorded via Wix, Google Ads and Meta analytics between 2024–2025, with bot and overseas traffic removed.