The Marietta Daily Journal

What The Marietta Daily Journal does

The Marietta Daily Journal is a private, for-profit local newspaper company founded in 1866 that serves Cobb County, Georgia from its headquarters at 47 Waddell St. SE in Marietta. The publication covers local news, elections, high school and college sports, education, police and fire incidents, business, obituaries, opinion, dining, and community events for an addressable market of approximately 770,000 residents across eight municipalities (Acworth, Austell, Kennesaw, Mableton, Marietta, Powder Springs, Smyrna, and Vinings). Its core product is the daily print newspaper, supplemented by an e-Edition digital replica, a podcast on Apple Podcasts, vertical content sections (Cobb Life, Cobb Eats, Cobb Football Friday), legal notices, classifieds, and email newsletters.

The business runs on the TownNews Blox content management system, with third-party integrations to Legacy.com for obituary listings and NewsBank for archive search. Distribution is multi-format: physical print delivery, a website at mdjonline.com, a digital e-Edition, and a mobile experience, with audience development through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Apple Podcasts, SEO, and email newsletters. The company has 101–250 employees and no disclosed parent company, subsidiaries, funding rounds, or acquisition history.

The revenue model is a hybrid of three streams: recurring print and digital subscriptions billed on a monthly cadence (pricing tiers not publicly disclosed), local advertising sales (display, classifieds, sponsored content), and statutory legal-notice publication fees. The go-to-market is direct-to-consumer for subscriptions (website, phone, in-person at the Marietta office) and direct-to-local-SMB for advertising. The customer base is geographically concentrated in Cobb County, with no disclosed enterprise customers, no out-of-market expansion, and no product diversification beyond local news.

Name

The Marietta Daily Journal

Legal name

Marietta Daily Journal

Website

https://mdjonline.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1866

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The Marietta Daily Journal is a private local newspaper founded in 1866 that publishes daily print and digital news, sports, and community coverage for Cobb County, Georgia residents and advertisers from its Marietta headquarters.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Newspaper Publishers (51311)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Local newspaper publishing
• Hyperlocal community news
• Print and digital subscriptions
• Local advertising sales
• High school sports coverage

Headquarters

HQ city

Marietta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Print Subscription: Physical newspaper delivery subscription service for local residents
2. Digital Subscription: E-Edition and online content access subscriptions
3. Advertising: Local advertising sales including display ads, classifieds, legal notices, and sponsored content

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Marietta Daily Journal publishes a daily local newspaper (print and digital) covering Cobb County, Georgia news, high school sports, elections, business, education, police and fire incidents, community events, and opinion. It monetizes through print subscriptions, e-Edition and online access subscriptions, and local advertising (display, classifieds, legal notices), with secondary distribution through a podcast and email newsletters.

Product overview

The Marietta Daily Journal is a traditional local newspaper publishing company offering both print and digital products. The core product is the Marietta Daily Journal newspaper (published since 1866), supplemented by an e-Edition for digital subscribers, a podcast series available on Apple Podcasts, and specialized vertical sections including Cobb Life (lifestyle), Cobb Eats (dining), Cobb Football Friday (high school sports), Opinion, and Legal Notices. The company also operates Classifieds and newsletter subscription services, all built on the Blox/TownNews content management platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Marietta Daily Journal (Print and Online Newspaper) Core daily local newspaper for Cobb County, Georgia, published since 1866. Covers local news, elections, sports, education, police and fire, business, and community events across the Marietta area for individual local residents and advertisers.
• e-Edition Digital replica of the printed newspaper accessible online for digital subscribers. Allows users to read the full newspaper edition in electronic format.
• Marietta Daily Journal Podcast Audio podcast series distributed via Apple Podcasts that covers local news and content from the Marietta Daily Journal for listeners in the Cobb County area.
• Legal Notices Public legal notice publication service for official announcements, public notices, and legal advertisements required by law, serving legal professionals, government entities, and the general public.
• Classifieds Online classified advertising marketplace for jobs, real estate, vehicles, and other classified listings, serving both local advertisers and job seekers/shoppers in Cobb County.
• Newsletter Subscriptions Email newsletter service delivering news alerts and curated content updates to subscribers on an opt-in basis.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The flagship daily newspaper for metropolitan Atlanta owned by Cox Enterprises. It is the most direct competitive overlap for MDJ, covering Cobb County within a broader metro footprint with substantially greater scale and digital resources.
• Gannett / USA TODAY Network: The largest U.S. newspaper chain, publisher of USA TODAY and hundreds of local dailies including multiple Georgia titles. Represents the broad-incumbent scale benchmark and a potential consolidator or acquirer of independent community papers like MDJ.
• Lee Enterprises: Mid-sized U.S. newspaper chain operating dozens of daily and weekly community newspapers across the Southeast. A relevant comparable for valuation benchmarks and as a potential strategic acquirer of independent local titles.

Direct peers

• Appen Media Group: A community newspaper group publishing titles across north Metro Atlanta suburbs (Cherokee Tribune-Ledger, Forsyth County News, Neighbor Newspapers). Operates in adjacent geographies to Cobb County with a similar print+digital local news model.
• Cherokee Tribune-Ledger: Local newspaper serving Cherokee County, Georgia, also published by Appen Media. Highly comparable in scale, scope, and product mix — print, e-Edition, digital subscriptions, and local sports coverage — to MDJ's Cobb County operations.
• Neighbor Newspapers: Cluster of community weeklies and monthly newspapers in north Atlanta suburbs, including Fulton Neighbor (already linked from MDJ's site). Comparable local newspaper business model, audience size, and editorial scope.

Emerging players

• Cobb County Courier: A digital-only local news outlet covering Cobb County. Directly competes for the same audience and digital advertising dollars as MDJ, but without the print subscription base or 160-year brand legacy.
• Patch.com: Hyperlocal digital news network with a dedicated Cobb County site. Represents the digital-native competitive model MDJ must defend against, with no print costs but also shallower local reporting depth.

Regional players

• MDJ sister site: Fulton Neighbor: Linked directly from the MDJ website, Fulton Neighbor is a sibling community newspaper title that shares infrastructure and likely ownership with MDJ, covering an adjacent north Atlanta county under the same publishing model.

Others

• TownNews (Bloxcms): The content management system vendor powering MDJ's digital infrastructure (evidenced by bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com domains). Functions as an enabling technology provider rather than a competitor, but influences MDJ's product roadmap and feature parity with peers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/mdjonline
• Facebookfacebook.com/mdjonline
• Instagraminstagram.com/mariettadailyjournal

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 The Marietta Daily Journal