[OgsyedIE]

The Onion and Mr Beast are the highbrow and lowbrow versions of the same niche: absurdism, spectacle and indifference without staying power. Since there's such low retention, the content must be weighted to constant new conversions and new reconversions.

Edit: if you have the time, watch their youtube series Sex House, Helcomb County Municipal Lake Dredge Appraisals and Dr. Good (approx 75 minutes each). There's no nudity, gore or cursing, just some very clever themes about the parallels between television and hell that are still relevant right now, if not more so.

[mattkrause]

The Onion has been around since 1988, so...decent staying power.

[busterarm]

And hasn't had any cultural relevance aside from this stunt for just about the last decade.

It's like saying that National Lampoon is still relevant.

[onychomys]

They have a larger audience for their print version than the Boston Globe. It's the 12th largest paper by circulation in the country!

https://www.fastcompany.com/91502944/the-onion-most-innovati...

[CobrastanJorji]

This is likely because The Onion was purchased by Univision in 2016 and then bounced around in a couple more acquisitions over the next decade. Ben Collins got the helm in 2024 and has been doing, in my opinion, a fantastic job with the brand.

[esseph]

> And hasn't had any cultural relevance aside from this stunt for just about the last decade.

You're right! Their own claim is that it's insane they're still around, because they find it hard to match the absurdity of the last 10 years.

[gegtik]

do you have a rubric to share for qualifying for cultural relevance?

[mattkrause]

65,000 print subscribers (on par with the Boston Globe!) and 300% revenue growth last year suggests they're doing okay.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91502944/the-onion-most-innovati...

[busterarm]

When I worked at an ISP we had a lot of landline phone customers too and I'm sure they will continue to for a long time.

At least as long as their current customers keep breathing.

You can run a business off inertia/nostalgia for quite a long time.

People are confused about what I said. Success and Relevance are not the same thing. National Lampoon still has a business too, but I doubt that any of you have seen a new movie of theirs since Van Wilder/Repli-Kate came out in 2002.

A million dollars a year for a domain name is quite a lot. And I know what was paid for the sales of some big (in the keyword marketing/leadgen space) domain names...Sale, not lease.

[floren]

> You can run a business off inertia/nostalgia for quite a long time.

They only reintroduced print editions in 2024 after an 11 year break. Those 65,000 print subscribers are all people who decided they wanted to start paying money for The Onion in the last 2 years.

[dougb5]

If "people are confused" I think it's because you are rejecting empirical evidence that The Onion is relevant without offering any counter-evidence of your own. Is it possible it's just no longer relevant to you personally? (I myself am a proud print subscriber...)

[shagie]

The context for those print subscribers is that this isn't a "had the subscription since the 2010s" They discontinued their print edition in 2013.

Those 65,000 subscriptions are all people who subscribed since 2024 when it was relaunched.

It may be nostalgia, but it is not people who forgot that they had a subscription. It's people who signed up to pay money in the last two years.

[mattkrause]

Inertia doesn't really seem like it would lead to 300% YoY growth...

OTOH, National Lampoon hasn't put out a magazine since 1998 or a film since 2015 (and that was a retrospective on the magazine).

I guess I'd agree that, in absolute terms, The Onion might be less of a cultural force than it was in 2005 (say), but part of that has to be that culture is a lot more long-tailed: music, movies, and TV aren't dominated by a handful of works either.

[evan_]

> People are confused about what I said.

Because you're saying very confusing things. What does National Lampoon have to do with anything?

[saulpw]

You say "without staying power" but I still remember and frequently cite these ancient Onion article headlines:

   - Drugs now legal if user is gainfully employed
   - Top 10 Genocides of the 20th Century (Infographic)
   - Cycle of Abuse Running Smoothly

I mean sure, it's a satirical news site and it's got a constant stream of new content, much of which is forgettable. But that's true of every other news site too. The gems make it stick.

[0cf8612b2e1e]

Don’t forget the perennial article about gun violence they use after every mass shooting.

[jsrcout]

  - Terrorist Bomb Pierces Bob Dole's Outer Hull
  - Are Your Cats Old Enough To Learn About Jesus?
  - Deadly Super Rainbow Tears Through West Coast
  - Clinton Deploys Vowels To Bosnia
  - Rescue Chip Sent In To Save Broken Tostito Submerged In 7 Layer Dip

That last one in particular was absolutely epic.

[saalweachter]

"America's Long Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity Finally Over"