NEXTpittsburgh
NEXTpittsburgh is an independent, locally owned digital news publication serving the Pittsburgh metropolitan area with local news, events, neighborhood guides, dining coverage, and a curated job board. Founded in 2013 by John Rhoades, it operates a WordPress/Newspack platform with a soft paywall and tiered reader memberships.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersPittsburgh, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What NEXTpittsburgh does
NEXTpittsburgh is a privately held, independent digital news publication founded in 2013 and operated by owner John Rhoades from its headquarters at 223 Fourth Ave in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The publication serves Pittsburgh-area residents with hyper-local coverage spanning news, arts and entertainment, business and technology, real estate, neighborhoods, dining, environment, and events, alongside the curated NEXT Job Board that reaches over 20,000 local job seekers weekly. The technical foundation is a WordPress-based digital platform powered by Newspack, distributing content through the website, the NEXTletter email newsletter (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday editions), Instagram and Facebook, and the Yinzer Backstage Pass video series hosted by Boaz Frankel.
The business model combines three revenue streams: membership subscriptions, sponsored content/advertising, and job board listings. The January 2026 introduction of a soft paywall (three free articles per month) anchors a three-tiered membership structure — Supporting Membership at $8.25/month annual or $12/month month-to-month, Sustaining Membership at $15/month or $19/month, and a free Community Membership for readers in need funded by Sustaining members. Sponsored content appears in a dedicated 'From Our Sponsors' section. The editorial team is small, comprising a Features Editor (Jennifer Baron), Yinzer Backstage Pass Host (Boaz Frankel), Contributing Editor (Sandra Tolliver), reporter Riona Duncan via the Pittsburgh Media Partnership Newsroom, and additional contributors.
The publication explicitly positions itself as people-powered, locally owned journalism addressing the decline of independent local reporting in Pittsburgh. The customer base is fragmented across individual consumers with no single enterprise anchor; the only named commercial partner disclosed is Edgar Snyder & Associates for a sponsored Yinzer Backstage Pass article on the Commercial Street Bridge. The operation shows steady but incremental growth, evidenced by product surface expansion (video series, tiered membership) without external funding or geographic diversification.
NEXTpittsburgh firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- NEXTpittsburgh
- Legal name
- NEXTpittsburgh (owned and operated by John Rhoades)
- Website
- https://nextpittsburgh.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- NEXTpittsburgh is an independent, locally owned digital news publication serving the Pittsburgh metropolitan area with local news, events, neighborhood guides, dining coverage, and a curated job board. Founded in 2013 by John Rhoades, it operates a WordPress/Newspack platform with a soft paywall and tiered reader memberships.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
NEXTpittsburgh industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Local Digital News & Media
- NAICS
- Newspaper Publishers (513110), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (51621)
- SIC
- Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- News & Content Aggregation Portals (BPAMAAAI)
Keywords
Where NEXTpittsburgh is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Pittsburgh
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
NEXTpittsburgh business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Membership Subscriptions: Reader-supported membership program with two tiers. Supporting Membership at $8.25/month (annual) or $12/month; Sustaining Membership at $15/month or $19/month. Members receive unlimited story access and a members-only newsletter. Community Membership is free for one year for readers in need, funded by Sustaining members.
- Sponsored Content and Advertising: The site accepts sponsored articles and features branded content from local businesses (e.g., Edgar Snyder & Associates sponsored content on the Yinzer Backstage Pass bridge article). The 'From Our Sponsors' section carries sponsored content.
- Job Board Listings: Curated job listings across Pittsburgh industries with a 'Post a Job' feature targeting employers, reaching over 20,000 local job seekers weekly.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Supporting Membership - $8.25/month with annual commitment |
| Subscription | Annual | Supporting Annual Membership - $99/year |
| Subscription | Monthly | Sustaining Membership - $15/month |
| Subscription | Annual | Sustaining Annual Membership - $175/year |
| Freemium | Monthly | Community Membership - Free for eligible readers |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
NEXTpittsburgh product offering
Product offeringCore offering
NEXTpittsburgh is a digital local news and information platform serving the Pittsburgh region, publishing original reporting and curated content on neighborhoods, dining, real estate, events, culture, and local jobs. The platform distributes content through its WordPress-based website, the NEXTletter email newsletter, the NEXT Job Board, and the Yinzer Backstage Pass video series, with revenue supported by reader memberships, advertising, sponsored content, and job listings.
Product overview
NEXTpittsburgh is a local digital media platform offering a unified news and information service for the Pittsburgh region. The core product is the NEXTpittsburgh website, which publishes local news, events, neighborhood guides, and entertainment coverage. Supporting products include The NEXTletter email newsletter, the NEXT Job Board for regional employment opportunities, and the Yinzer Backstage Pass video series featuring behind-the-scenes Pittsburgh content. The company operates a three-tiered membership model consisting of Supporting Membership ($8.25/month), Sustaining Membership ($15/month), and Community Membership (free for those in need). Starting January 1, 2026, a light paywall allows free access to three articles per month before requiring membership for unlimited access.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- NEXTpittsburgh Website The NEXTpittsburgh website is the flagship digital news platform covering Pittsburgh neighborhoods, dining, real estate, events, culture, and local news, built on WordPress with the Newspack platform and serving both readers and local advertisers.
- The NEXTletter The NEXTletter is NEXTpittsburgh's email newsletter delivering curated local news, events, dining, and culture highlights to Pittsburgh-area subscribers.
- NEXT Job Board The NEXT Job Board is a Pittsburgh-area job listings platform connecting local employers with regional job seekers through the NEXTpittsburgh website.
- Yinzer Backstage Pass The Yinzer Backstage Pass is a video series produced by NEXTpittsburgh, hosted by Boaz Frankel, telling stories about Pittsburgh's people, places, and culture.
Companies that use NEXTpittsburgh
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
NEXTpittsburgh technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
NEXTpittsburgh partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Edgar Snyder & AssociatesminorPennsylvania-based law firm sponsoring Yinzer Backstage Pass video content. The sponsored article about the Commercial Street Bridge features Edgar Snyder & Associates branding. This is a standard sponsored content relationship common in local media.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
NEXTpittsburgh competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Block Club Chicago: Independent, digital-first nonprofit local news outlet covering Chicago neighborhoods, events and culture. Operates on a reader-supported membership model almost identical to NEXTpittsburgh's three-tier structure, making it the closest peer in business model and audience positioning.
- The Incline: Pittsburgh-specific digital local news publication covering news, neighborhoods, food and events — the most direct same-market peer to NEXTpittsburgh, with substantially the same content taxonomy (news/neighborhoods/eat & drink) and city focus.
- Technical.ly: Independent digital local news outlet covering the tech and innovation economy across multiple U.S. cities including Pittsburgh. Comparable in audience (knowledge-economy professionals), ad-supported + event/subscription revenue model, and city-page structure mirroring NEXTpittsburgh's 'Business & Tech' coverage.
- City Cast: Digital local news network operating daily podcasts and newsletters across multiple U.S. cities with a member-supported model. Closely comparable to NEXTpittsburgh in mission (independent local journalism), format (newsletter + audio) and city-by-city reader-funded approach.
Broad incumbents
- Axios: National digital news startup with local Smart Brevity editions in multiple cities. Operates in the same digital local-news category as NEXTpittsburgh but at far greater scale, with a mix of subscription, sponsored newsletters (Axios HQ) and event revenue rather than a membership-funded model.
- Patch: Advance Local's nationwide hyperlocal digital news network covering thousands of U.S. communities including Pittsburgh-area suburbs. Overlaps with NEXTpittsburgh's neighborhood-coverage proposition but operates as a corporate-backed network versus an indie single-city publication.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Legacy Pittsburgh regional daily newspaper covering the same metro market as NEXTpittsburgh. Competes for the same local-news audience and advertiser budgets, but operates a much larger newsroom across print + digital versus NEXTpittsburgh's digital-only indie model.
Regional players
- WESA 90.5 FM: Pittsburgh's public radio station covering local news, arts and culture across the same metro. Comparable in audience (engaged Pittsburgh residents), nonprofit/member-supported model and editorial beats, but distributes via broadcast + podcast rather than digital-first articles.
Emerging players
- Outlier Media: Mobile-first local news service operating in Detroit and Cleveland that uses SMS/text-based delivery to engage lower-income readers. An emerging peer in the indie local-news category that has experimented with alternative distribution and revenue models relevant to NEXTpittsburgh's paywall strategy.
- Lede (Block Club Chicago's training program): Nonprofit supporting and incubating independent local news outlets across the U.S. Comparable as an emerging peer in the same indie-local-journalism category, including the membership/subscription sustainability playbook NEXTpittsburgh is implementing.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
NEXTpittsburgh social profiles
Digital presenceNEXTpittsburgh financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
NEXTpittsburgh leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
NEXTpittsburgh funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
NEXTpittsburgh M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about NEXTpittsburgh
What does NEXTpittsburgh do?
NEXTpittsburgh is a digital local news and information platform serving the Pittsburgh region, publishing original reporting and curated content on neighborhoods, dining, real estate, events, culture, and local jobs. The platform distributes content through its WordPress-based website, the NEXTletter email newsletter, the NEXT Job Board, and the Yinzer Backstage Pass video series, with revenue supported by reader memberships, advertising, sponsored content, and job listings.
Is NEXTpittsburgh a public or private company?
NEXTpittsburgh is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was NEXTpittsburgh founded?
NEXTpittsburgh was founded in 2013. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is NEXTpittsburgh based?
NEXTpittsburgh is headquartered in Pittsburgh, United States, in the North America region.
How does NEXTpittsburgh make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Membership Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are sponsored Content and Advertising and job Board Listings.
Who are NEXTpittsburgh's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Block Club Chicago, The Incline, Technical.ly and City Cast. Broad incumbents are Axios, Patch and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. WESA 90.5 FM is listed as a regional player. Emerging players are Outlier Media and Lede (Block Club Chicago's training program).
Does NEXTpittsburgh have an API?
No public API is recorded for NEXTpittsburgh.
What industry is NEXTpittsburgh in?
NEXTpittsburgh's product category is Local Digital News & Media. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJADAB, Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital), with a secondary code of BPAMAAAI, News & Content Aggregation Portals. Its NAICS code is 513110 and its SIC code is 2721.