Niagara This Week

What Niagara This Week does

Niagara This Week is a digital-first local news publication serving the Niagara region of Ontario, Canada. It covers eight municipalities — Fort Erie, Grimsby, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Thorold, Welland, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Port Colborne — across news verticals including breaking news, council/government, crime, local business, events, opinion/columnists, obituaries, and Indigenous local coverage. The product surface extends beyond articles into interactive Fun and Games (daily crossword, jigsaw, sudoku, solitaire), email newsletter subscriptions, postal-code-targeted Product Recall Alerts, a local shopping and services directory, and a community comments feature ("Conversations"). Coverage of underserved communities such as Fort Erie and Port Colborne is funded under the federal Government of Canada Local Journalism Initiative.

The publication is built on the BLOX CMS from TownNews, a standard regional-publishing platform, and operates as one site within Metroland Media Group Ltd.'s network of 20 community sites and 6 regional dailies (part of Torstar Corporation). Editorial personnel are branded under named columnists including Laura Barton, Mike Pearson, Kevin Werner, Mark Newman, and Jeremy Grimaldi, and the operation is headquartered in Thorold with corporate functions at Metroland's Toronto office at 8 Spadina Avenue, Suite 10A. The legal entity behind the brand is Metroland Media Group Ltd.; Niagara This Week is a trade name within that private corporate group, with no public listing.

Revenue is generated through four streams: recurring digital subscriptions (with bundled access across Metroland/Torstar titles), display and sponsored-section advertising plus the Best of Niagara Region Readers' Choice Awards marketing program, transaction-based classifieds and obituary listings, and a freemium tier in which free account registration unlocks commenting, saved-article functionality, and the morning newsletter while premium subscription is required for full article access. Go-to-market is direct-to-consumer via the website, email newsletters, and social sharing (Facebook, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, SMS), with the publication operating under the governance and editorial standards of Metroland Media Group Ltd.

Name

Niagara This Week

Legal name

Metroland Media Group Ltd.

Website

https://niagarathisweek.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Niagara This Week is a digital-first local news publication covering breaking news, events, opinion, and obituaries across eight Ontario municipalities in the Niagara region. It is owned by Metroland Media Group Ltd. (part of Torstar) and monetizes through subscriptions, advertising, classifieds, and government civic-journalism grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Digital News

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industry

Online Article & Blog Publishing Platforms (MPAJAMAF)

Keywords

• Local news
• Community journalism
• Digital news publication
• Online newspaper
• Hyperlocal media

Headquarters

HQ city

Thorold

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Digital Subscriptions: The publication offers digital subscription packages that provide full access to articles and features. Users can subscribe to Niagara This Week and related Metroland publications including Toronto Star, Niagara Falls Review, St. Catharines Standard, Welland Tribune, and Hamilton Spectator.
2. Advertising: The website features display advertising, sponsored sections, and promotional content. The site also hosts Reader's Choice Awards which serve as a marketing partnership program for local businesses.
3. Classifieds and Marketplace: Online marketplace for classifieds including obituaries, community classifieds, and shopping/services listings.
4. Fun and Games: Interactive gaming content including daily crossword, jigsaw, sudoku, and solitaire puzzles accessible to registered users.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Niagara This Week is a digital-first local news publication serving communities across the Niagara region of Ontario, including Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Thorold, Welland, Fort Erie, Grimsby, Port Colborne, and Niagara-on-the-Lake. It publishes breaking news, crime reports, council coverage, community events, obituaries, opinion pieces, lifestyle content, and local business features. The publication monetizes via digital subscriptions, display advertising, classified listings, and reader engagement products such as interactive games and newsletters.

Product overview

Niagara This Week is a local news publication website operated by Metroland Media Group, serving the Niagara region including Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Fort Erie, Grimsby, Welland, Thorold, Port Colborne, and Niagara-on-the-Lake. The core product is its news website delivering local journalism across categories including News, Crime, Council, Life, Things to Do, Opinion, and Obituaries. Additional offerings include interactive Fun and Games (puzzles), Newsletter Subscriptions for breaking news alerts, Product Recall Alerts by postal code, a Shopping and Services Directory for local businesses, and Reader Comments (Conversations) for community engagement. The site is built on the BLOX CMS platform from TownNews and operates as part of a network of 20 Metroland community sites and 6 regional dailies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Niagara This Week News Website A local news publication website delivering breaking news, community stories, crime reports, council coverage, events, opinion/columnists, and obituaries for residents of the Niagara region.
• Obituaries Platform Online obituary listings and memorial submission platform serving the Niagara region.
• Fun and Games Interactive puzzle games including Daily Crossword, Daily Jigsaw, Daily Sudoku, and Daily Solitaire accessible to registered users as a reader engagement feature.
• Newsletter Subscriptions Email newsletters delivering daily headlines, breaking news alerts, and specialized topic news updates to subscribers.
• Shopping and Services Directory Local business directory and marketplace platform featuring retail, restaurants, services, activities, travel, and classifieds listings for the Niagara region.
• Classifieds Marketplace Online community classifieds and marketplace for buying, selling, and local listings in the Niagara region.
• Best of Niagara Region Readers' Choice Awards Annual awards program recognizing local businesses and services in the Niagara region through reader nominations and voting.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Metroland Media Group Ltd.coreOthersMetroland Media Group Ltd. is the parent company of Niagara This Week. It operates a network of 20 community sites and 6 regional dailies across Ontario. The company is part of Torstar Corporation. Niagara This Week shares platform infrastructure, user authentication, and content systems with the broader Metroland network.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• St. Catharines Standard: Sister publication within Metroland Media Group covering St. Catharines and the Niagara region. Operates on the same BLOX CMS platform with shared subscriptions and authentication; effectively a parallel product targeting overlapping Niagara communities.
• Niagara-on-the-Lake Local: Hyperlocal digital news outlet covering Niagara-on-the-Lake. Directly comparable as a small-scale community news site targeting one of the same municipalities Niagara This Week serves.
• Niagara Falls Review: Another Metroland community publication covering Niagara Falls. Shares the same platform, subscription network, and editorial infrastructure as Niagara This Week; competes for the same regional audience and advertiser base.
• Pelham Today: Independent hyperlocal news publication covering Pelham, Ontario in the Niagara Region. Comparable as a community-focused digital news outlet serving a single Ontario municipality with similar content mix (council, events, lifestyle).
• Welland Tribune: Metroland community publication covering Welland and surrounding Niagara area. Operates on shared infrastructure with Niagara This Week and targets overlapping advertisers and reader demographics.

Broad incumbents

• Hamilton Spectator: Regional daily within the Metroland network serving Hamilton and the broader Greater Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara corridor. Larger scale and broader geographic scope than Niagara This Week, with overlapping reader base in western Niagara.
• St. Catharines Standard (Postmedia): Major Canadian newspaper chain operating community and metropolitan titles across multiple provinces. Comparable as a portfolio operator of community news sites, though not directly present in Niagara; relevant as a strategic acquirer or competitive benchmark for network economics.
• Toronto Star: Flagship publication of parent Torstar Corporation. National/regional metropolitan daily with much larger scale; competes for broader Niagara advertisers and offers some local coverage that overlaps with Niagara This Week's content.

Emerging players

• IndyWeek: Independently-owned alternative weekly / digital community news publication in Durham, NC. Comparable as a digital-first community news outlet with hyperlocal civic journalism, freemium subscription model, and event coverage focus.

Regional players

• CBC Hamilton: Public broadcaster covering Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, and surrounding regions. Publicly-funded competitor with significant local news coverage in the same geographic footprint as Niagara This Week.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NiagarathisWeek
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/niagara-this-week

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 Niagara This Week