Star Advertiser

What Star Advertiser does

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (DBA Star Advertiser) is a privately held daily newspaper headquartered at 500 Ala Moana Blvd. #2-200 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is the largest daily newspaper in the state. The publication traces its lineage to the merger of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser, and operates content sub-brands including Hawaii Best, Crave, Hawaii Prep World, Star Channels, and Kokua Line. It serves Hawaii residents, Hawaii newcomers, and visitors with continuous local, national, and international news coverage across politics, sports, business, weather, traffic, and lifestyle categories.

The company runs a multi-platform publishing operation combining print and digital distribution. Core products include the digital edition, a print replica, iOS and Android mobile apps, email newsletters, web push notifications, and interactive puzzles and games. Technology is built on a standard web content delivery platform with companion mobile applications; there is no public API, SDK, or middleware/connector interface, and no AI/ML capabilities are disclosed. Revenue is generated through three primary streams: digital subscriptions, print subscriptions, and advertising, with premium digital access priced at $12.95 per month. Transactional verticals such as classifieds, obituaries, real estate listings, and job postings are operated through a partnership ecosystem that includes HawaiiObituaries.com, Recruitology, Hawaii's Classifieds, Hawaii Island Homes, Hawaii Cars, and Oahu Publications.

The business model is primarily a consumer subscription and advertising hybrid, with a Hawaii-specific audience base. The company addresses local marketplace utility needs (obituaries, classifieds, jobs, real estate, automotive) alongside editorial content, leveraging its dominant share of the Hawaii daily newspaper market. The audience is split between Hawaii residents (primary) and visitors or newcomers (secondary), with distribution across print, web, mobile, email, and social channels. As a privately held company, no financial operating data is publicly disclosed.

Name

Star Advertiser

Legal name

Star Advertiser

Website

https://staradvertiser.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (DBA Star Advertiser) is Hawaii's largest privately held daily newspaper, serving Hawaii residents and visitors with local, national, and international news across print, web, mobile, email, and app channels, with revenue from subscriptions, advertising, and classified verticals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

Keywords

• Local newspaper
• Digital news subscription
• Print newspaper
• News publishing
• Hawaii news media

Headquarters

HQ city

Honolulu

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, Others

Revenue model

1. Digital Subscriptions: The company generates revenue through digital subscription plans offering unlimited access to premium stories and content online.
2. Print Subscriptions: Traditional newspaper subscription service providing print edition access.
3. Advertising Revenue: The platform carries display advertising, classified ads, job listings, and partner content sections that generate advertising income.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Honolulu Star-Advertiser publishes and distributes a Hawaii-focused daily newspaper and its digital equivalents. The company produces local news, sports, business, politics, and opinion content delivered through a website, mobile applications, email newsletters, web push notifications, and a physical print edition across the Hawaiian Islands.

Product overview

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser operates a unified digital-first news platform offering comprehensive local, national, and world news coverage for Hawaii. The core product is the Star-Advertiser Digital Edition (website), which serves as the primary news platform. Additional offerings include the Print Replica (digital version of the print newspaper), Mobile App, Email Newsletters, Web Push Notifications, and specialty sections like Crave (food/dining), Hawaii Prep World (high school sports), and Hawaii's Best (annual reader awards). Interactive features include Puzzles and Games, Photo Galleries, and Video Content. The site also integrates job listings via Recruitology and offers classifieds, obituaries, and special sections archives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hawaii Best: Annual reader poll and awards program for Hawaii's best businesses, restaurants, and shops

Products and services

• Star-Advertiser Digital Edition The primary digital news platform offering breaking news, Hawaii local news, sports, business, entertainment, and opinion content with unlimited premium access via digital subscription at $12.95/month.
• Print Newspaper Subscription Physical newspaper subscription delivering the daily printed edition across Oahu, Maui, Hawaii Island, Kauai, Lanai, and Molokai.
• Star-Advertiser Mobile App Dedicated mobile application for iOS and Android that provides subscribers with on-the-go access to news content and breaking news push notifications.
• Hawaii's Best Annual reader poll and awards program recognizing Hawaii's best businesses, restaurants, and shops across various categories.
• Print Replica Digital version of the physical newspaper allowing subscribers to read the complete print edition online with the same layout and formatting as the printed paper.
• Classifieds Marketplace

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Star Tribune (Minneapolis):
• The Dallas Morning News:
• The Seattle Times: The Seattle Times is a privately held regional daily serving the Pacific Northwest, with a hybrid digital/print subscription model and strong local news franchise. It is directly comparable in operating model, geography-adjacent market position, and digitally-led transition strategy.
• Honolulu Civil Beat: Honolulu Civil Beat is a digital-native local news organization focused on Hawaii investigative reporting, politics, and civic coverage. It is the most directly comparable peer in the Hawaii market, competing for the same reader base and local advertiser dollars.
• The Boston Globe:
• Hawaii Tribune-Herald: Hawaii Tribune-Herald is a daily newspaper serving Hawaii Island (the Big Island), covering local news, sports, and community events. It competes directly with Star-Advertiser for Hawaii-wide readership and is the closest geographic/market peer for Neighbor Islands coverage.
• The Maui News: The Maui News is the principal daily newspaper for Maui County and is part of the same Oahu Publications family of publications historically tied to the Star-Advertiser ecosystem. It directly competes and complements Star-Advertiser across Neighbor Islands.

Broad incumbents

• Gannett Co. Gannett is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, operating USA TODAY and hundreds of local daily papers nationwide. It is a broad incumbent whose scale, digital infrastructure, and shared national advertising platform make it a structural benchmark for regional daily operations like Star-Advertiser.
• Lee Enterprises: Lee Enterprises owns and operates a large portfolio of local daily newspapers across the U.S. It is a broad incumbent peer in the regional daily newspaper space, with shared exposure to print decline and digital subscription transition dynamics relevant to Star-Advertiser.
• Tribune Publishing: Tribune Publishing operates a portfolio of major metropolitan and regional daily newspapers. It is a broad incumbent that competes for digital subscribers and advertising in adjacent markets, with comparable challenges in transitioning print reader bases to digital subscription models.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/staradvertiser
• YouTubeyoutube.com/StarAdvertiser
• Facebookfacebook.com/staradvertiser
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/honolulu-star-advertiser
• Instagraminstagram.com/staradvertiser

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Star Advertiser