The Durango Herald

What The Durango Herald does

The Durango Herald is a daily newspaper serving Durango, Colorado and the surrounding Southwest Colorado region, including La Plata County, Bayfield, Ignacio, and adjacent New Mexico communities. Founded in 1880, it is operated as a subsidiary of the privately held Ballantine Communications, Inc., a diversified Colorado-based media group, and delivers local and regional coverage spanning government, education, community events, regional sports, arts and entertainment, business, health, travel, and food.

Its product stack centers on the durangoherald.com news website and an associated web-based CMS, supported by an eEdition digital replica of the print paper, a daily email newsletter and breaking-news alerts, classifieds and public-notices portals, and an obituary portal. Distribution runs through home delivery and newsstand print, self-serve web subscription gating, and the eEditions platform, with audience reach extended via RSS feeds and Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram social channels.

The revenue model combines recurring print and digital subscriptions (print-only, digital-only, and bundled tiers sold on an annual cadence) with website display and sponsored-content advertising, classified advertising, and legally required public notices — the latter representing a regulated, defensible revenue line tied to its status as a local newspaper of record. The customer base is geographically segmented, targeting residents of Durango and the surrounding Four Corners region rather than enterprise accounts.

Name

The Durango Herald

Legal name

Durango Herald

Website

https://durangoherald.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1880

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Durango Herald is a daily newspaper founded in 1880 serving Durango, Colorado and surrounding Southwest Colorado communities, delivering local news, sports, and community coverage via print, digital website, eEditions, and newsletters under Ballantine Communications, Inc.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Durango

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Print and Digital Subscriptions: Subscription revenue from print newspaper and digital access packages offered to local readers. Multiple subscription tiers available including print-only, digital-only, and combined packages.
2. Digital Advertising: Website display advertising including banner ads, image ads, and sponsored content placements on the durangoherald.com website.
3. Classifieds and Public Notices: Revenue from classified advertisements and legally required public notices published in the newspaper and online.
4. eEdition Digital Replica: Digital replica version of the print newspaper sold as a subscription product.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Durango Herald publishes a daily local newspaper and companion digital news website (durangoherald.com) serving Durango, Colorado and the surrounding Southwest Colorado region. It delivers local and regional news coverage across categories including local government, community events, education, sports, arts, entertainment, business, health, travel, and food, distributed via print, web, eEditions, email newsletters, and social media under subscription and advertising revenue models.

Product overview

The Durango Herald is a local news publication operated by Ballantine Communications, Inc., offering a unified digital platform that includes the core news website (The Durango Herald), eEditions for digital newspaper access, email newsletter services, and various subscription packages combining print and digital access. The product portfolio centers on delivering local news, sports, arts, entertainment, and community content to Southwest Colorado readers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Durango Herald Store: Online store for newspaper merchandise and products
• eEdition

Products and services

• The Durango Herald Newspaper The Durango Herald is the core daily newspaper and companion digital news publication covering local and regional news for Durango, Colorado and surrounding Southwest Colorado communities, including local government, community events, education, sports, arts, entertainment, business, health, travel, food, and opinion content.
• eEditions (Digital Replica) eEditions provides a digital replica version of the print Durango Herald newspaper, available online for subscribers who prefer electronic access to the printed publication.
• Email Newsletter Email newsletter service delivering daily headlines and breaking news alerts from The Durango Herald to subscriber inboxes.
• Classifieds and Public Notices Classified advertisements and legally required public notices published in the print newspaper and on durangoherald.com, serving local businesses, individuals, and legal notice filers.
• Digital Display Advertising Website display advertising product including banner ads, image ads, and sponsored content placements on durangoherald.com, sold to local and regional businesses seeking to reach the publication's readership.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Aspen Daily News: Locally owned daily newspaper serving a small Colorado mountain community; directly comparable business model of print/digital subscriptions, local advertising, and public notices in a similar-sized resort-region market.
• Vail Daily: Daily newspaper serving Colorado mountain communities (Vail Valley) with print and digital subscriptions plus local advertising — operates in a comparable small-market Colorado news environment as the Herald.
• Steamboat Pilot & Today: Daily newspaper serving a small Colorado resort market via print edition, paywalled website, and eEditions; essentially the same go-to-market as The Durango Herald in a similarly sized mountain community.
• Cortez Montezuma Valley Journal: Local newspaper serving the adjacent Montezuma County market in Southwest Colorado; functionally the most geographically proximate peer with an overlapping regional audience.
• Telluride Daily Planet: Daily newspaper serving a small Colorado mountain town with comparable print/digital subscription model and local coverage mandate; direct small-market daily competitor.
• Montrose Daily Press: Daily newspaper covering a small Western Colorado community; comparable subscription-and-advertising revenue mix targeting a similarly sized rural Colorado market.

Broad incumbents

• The Pueblo Chieftain: Long-established Colorado daily newspaper serving a larger Southern Colorado market under a regional media group; comparable legacy daily news operations and subscription/advertising model at greater scale.
• The Gazette (Colorado Springs): Major Colorado daily newspaper with print, digital subscription, and eEditions; a larger-incumbent analog operating the same subscription-and-advertising playbook across a bigger Colorado footprint.
• Lee Enterprises: Publicly traded owner of numerous local daily newspapers across the US; relevant incumbent comparator for community newspaper operations, subscription systems, and ad network dynamics.
• Gannett Co. Largest US local newspaper chain operating USA TODAY and hundreds of community dailies; relevant incumbent for understanding digital subscription migration economics and ad-platform competition faced by small-market papers like the Herald.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/durangoherald
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheDurangoHerald
• Instagraminstagram.com/durango_herald
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/durango-herald

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 The Durango Herald