Santa Monica Daiily press

What Santa Monica Daiily press does

Santa Monica Daily Press (SMDP) is an independent, privately held daily newspaper founded in 2001 and headquartered in Santa Monica, California. It serves local residents of Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades with daily coverage of city government, politics, crime, business, community events, lifestyle, sports, and opinion. SMDP operates a single integrated editorial product distributed across a website (smdp.com), a printed newspaper edition, a PDF archive of past issues, and an owned podcast, supplemented by syndication of statewide commentary from CalMatters and wire content from the Associated Press.

The publication is built on the Ghost content management system with the Gazet theme, a standard third-party publishing stack with no disclosed proprietary technology layer. It maintains an unusually broad social distribution footprint spanning 15+ platforms (Facebook, X, Bluesky, Discord, Instagram, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Telegram, Pinterest, WhatsApp, RSS). Content production is staff-driven (lead bylined journalist Matthew Hall, with additional contributors and community "Guest Author" submissions from local organizations), with no AI tooling mentioned in any source material.

SMDP generates revenue from three streams: digital subscriptions (free registration with paid tiers for full access), local advertising and sponsorships on web and in print, and a dedicated legal notice filing service that monetizes statutorily required public notices. Pricing for subscriptions, advertising rates, and legal notice fees is not publicly disclosed. The customer base is geographically concentrated to a single metro submarket, with no enterprise or institutional customer logos identified. Leadership consists of co-founders Carolyn Sackariason and Dave Danforth, with Ross Furukawa serving as President and Co-Founder. No parent company, external investors, or M&A activity are disclosed.

Name

Santa Monica Daiily press

Legal name

Santa Monica Daily Press

Website

https://smdp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Santa Monica Daily Press is an independent daily newspaper founded in 2001, serving Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades residents with local news, a podcast, and a PDF archive via subscription, advertising, and legal notice revenue.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local News Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

News, Politics & Current Affairs Magazines (MPAJAEAO)

Keywords

• Local news publishing
• Daily newspaper coverage
• Community journalism
• Hyperlocal news media
• Digital news content

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Monica

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Digital Subscriptions: The publication operates a subscription/signup model offering registered member and subscriber access to content, with a PDF archive and print edition available to paying members.
2. Advertising & Sponsorships: SMDP sells advertising placements on its website and in its print edition, with a dedicated SMDP Advertising page and multiple sponsorship opportunities tied to events and content sections.
3. Legal Notices: The publication offers a dedicated Legal Notices filing service, generating revenue from public legal notice publications as required by law.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Santa Monica Daily Press (SMDP) is an independent local daily newspaper and digital news publication serving the Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades communities. It delivers daily coverage of local government, politics, crime, business, lifestyle, and community events across multiple formats including a website (smdp.com), PDF archive, podcast, and print edition. The publication combines traditional print journalism with digital distribution channels to reach both residents and advertisers in the Westside Los Angeles area.

Product overview

Santa Monica Daily Press (SMDP) operates as a single-platform local news publication providing digital news coverage, a podcast, and PDF archive subscriptions to the Santa Monica community. The publication covers local government, politics, crime, business, community events, and lifestyle content with no modular product architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SMDP Website (smdp.com)
• SMDP Podcast
• PDF Archive
• SMDP Print Edition
• SMDP Advertising

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• LAist: LA-focused digital local news outlet covering Los Angeles neighborhoods, civic affairs, and culture. Closely comparable to SMDP's digital-first, hyperlocal coverage model and community-engagement GTM, though at a much larger LA-wide scale.
• The Argonaut: Long-running weekly community newspaper serving LA's Westside including Venice, Marina del Rey, and Westchester. Direct geographic and format peer to SMDP — same print + digital local newspaper model serving overlapping affluent LA coastal communities.
• Patch: National hyperlocal news network that operates a Santa Monica-specific edition covering local government, schools, and community events. Direct peer in hyperlocal digital news with overlapping content categories and local advertiser base.
• Lookout Santa Cruz: Independent, digital-first local news outlet serving Santa Cruz County with a subscription-supported model and emphasis on local accountability journalism. Comparable to SMDP as a founder-led, digitally native local daily covering a single market.
• The Malibu Times: Weekly local newspaper serving Malibu and surrounding LA coastal communities. Direct peer in the same coastal Westside LA geography, with overlapping advertiser base and coverage of similar civic and lifestyle topics.
• Larchmont Buzz: Hyperlocal digital news site covering the Larchmont/Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Comparable to SMDP as an LA-area community-funded digital news outlet covering civic affairs, schools, and local business.
• Beverly Press / Park La Brea News: Long-established LA community newspaper serving Beverly Hills, Hancock Park, and surrounding neighborhoods. Comparable in print + digital local newspaper model and in covering affluent LA-area civic and business news.

Emerging players

• Streetsblog Los Angeles: LA-focused digital publication covering transportation, land use, and civic planning. Comparable in hyperlocal LA digital news GTM and in covering Santa Monica city council decisions, though narrower in topic scope.

Broad incumbents

• Daily Breeze: Established South Bay / LA-area daily newspaper covering a wider geographic footprint than SMDP. Comparable as a daily local newspaper covering similar content categories (civic, business, crime), but at larger scale and broader geography.
• Los Angeles Times: Major metropolitan daily covering LA County, including Santa Monica. Comparable as a daily news publisher serving overlapping audiences, but operates at vastly larger scale and competes most directly for premium local advertisers and subscribers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/smdailypress
• Facebookfacebook.com/167938109902177
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/santa-monica-daily-press

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Santa Monica Daiily press