The Landmark

What The Landmark does

The Landmark is a local community newspaper serving five towns in the Wachusett region of central Massachusetts — Holden, Sterling, Rutland, Paxton, and Princeton. Founded in 1983, the publication covers local news, sports, school news, lifestyle content, opinion, obituaries, classifieds, legal notices, and community features, with active coverage through July 2026. Distribution is direct-to-consumer via thelandmark.com, with content organized into category-based sections (News, Sports, School News, Lifestyle, Opinion, Conversations) plus integrated sections for obituaries, classifieds, and digital issues.

The publication runs on a shared technology stack operated by its parent company, CherryRoad Media, which was founded in 2020 by CEO Jeremy Gulban when the Gulban family extended its technology business (originating as DataStudy Inc in 1983, later CherryRoad Technologies) into local media. The Landmark's website is built on CherryRoad Media's CMS, with obituaries powered through a Legacy.com integration, classifieds and legal notices processed via the etype services platform, and jobs syndicated through hiringcentralmass.com. The site implements WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility profiles and supports digital-issue delivery alongside email newsletters.

The business model combines four revenue streams: recurring digital subscriptions (with a complimentary-access tier), paid obituary submission services, classified and display advertising from local businesses, and fee-based legal-notice publication. Customer segments are split between local residents (primary, consumer subscribers) and local businesses and organizations (secondary, advertisers). The Landmark operates as part of CherryRoad Media's portfolio of community newspapers, and the parent company has indicated a strategy of growth through acquisitions and new-paper launches. No external venture or institutional funding is disclosed.

Name

The Landmark

Legal name

The Landmark

Website

https://thelandmark.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Landmark is a weekly community newspaper serving five towns in central Massachusetts (Holden, Sterling, Rutland, Paxton, Princeton), delivering local news, sports, school coverage, obituaries, classifieds, and legal notices to residents and local advertisers, operated under parent CherryRoad Media.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Community newspaper publishing
• Local news coverage
• Obituary publishing services
• Classified advertising
• Legal notice publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Holden

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

Revenue model

1. Digital Subscriptions: The Landmark operates a subscription-based model where readers pay for access to premium content. The website features a 'Subscribe' page with plans and a 'Sign Up Now' call-to-action for complimentary access, indicating a freemium approach where some content is free while full articles require subscription.
2. Obituary Services: The newspaper charges for obituary submissions, with a process requiring contact information, text, photos, funeral home details, and dates. Obituaries are processed through [email protected] email.
3. Classified Advertising: The newspaper publishes classified advertisements through etypeservices.com platform, including job listings, with submission capabilities through the website.
4. Legal Notices: Legal notices are published through the etype services platform, generating revenue from municipal and legal required publications.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Landmark is a local community newspaper publishing news, sports, school news, lifestyle, opinion, obituaries, classifieds, and legal notices for residents of the Wachusett area of Massachusetts, including Holden, Sterling, Rutland, Paxton, and Princeton. The publication operates a digital-first platform with subscription access to full content, complemented by paid obituary submission services, classified advertising, and legal notice publication.

Product overview

The Landmark is a single, unified local newspaper serving five Wachusett-area communities in Massachusetts (Holden, Sterling, Rutland, Paxton, and Princeton). The publication offers a digital platform providing local news, sports, school news, lifestyle content, opinion pieces, obituaries, classifieds, legal notices, and digital issue access. The product portfolio consists of the core newspaper with various content categories and features including Digital Issues, Classifieds, Obituaries, Legal Notices, and Conversations sections.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Landmark Newspaper A local community newspaper serving the Wachusett area communities of Holden, Sterling, Rutland, Paxton, and Princeton in Massachusetts. Covers local news, sports, school news, lifestyle, opinion, obituaries, classifieds, and legal notices, delivered via a digital-first subscription-based platform.
• Digital Issues

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• CherryRoad MediacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020CherryRoad Media is the parent company of The Landmark, founded in 2020 when CEO Jeremy Gulban entered the media world. CherryRoad Media is committed to reporting on local news with resident journalists in the communities they serve, leveraging technology expertise to provide innovative media and technology services.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Gannett: The largest U.S. newspaper publisher, operating USA Today and hundreds of local publications including community papers in Massachusetts. It competes for the same local advertising and subscription dollars at national scale with deeper digital infrastructure.
• The Boston Globe: The dominant regional newspaper for eastern Massachusetts, with deep regional coverage that extends into the Wachusett area. It competes for both subscribers and advertisers, and serves as a regional benchmark for local journalism quality.
• Lee Enterprises: A large publicly traded local newspaper operator with a portfolio of community dailies and weeklies across the U.S. It shares The Landmark's dependence on local subscription and advertising revenue, with a similar hyperlocal product offering.
• Hearst Newspapers: A major U.S. newspaper group operating dailies and weeklies in multiple states. It shares the local newspaper business model and competes for both content syndication partnerships and shared local advertising pools.

Others

• CherryRoad Media: The parent company of The Landmark, also operating a portfolio of local newspapers and media properties across multiple states. It is directly comparable as the corporate owner operating a roll-up strategy of community newspapers using shared technology infrastructure.

Emerging players

• Patch.com: A digital-first hyperlocal news network covering thousands of U.S. communities. It competes directly with The Landmark for local online news attention in the Wachusett area, but with a non-subscription, ad-supported model.

Regional players

• Community Advocate: A free local newspaper serving communities in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, including towns adjacent to The Landmark's footprint. It competes for the same local advertising dollars with a similar community news product.
• The Item (Daily Item, Lynn): A regional daily newspaper serving the North Shore of Massachusetts. While geographically separate, it shares The Landmark's reliance on local subscription, obituary, classified, and legal notice revenue from a single regional audience.
• The Gardner News: A local newspaper serving Gardner and surrounding communities in north-central Massachusetts, adjacent to The Landmark's Wachusett coverage area. It directly competes for readers and advertisers in overlapping regional markets.

Direct peers

• Telegram & Gazette (Worcester): The major daily newspaper serving Worcester County in central Massachusetts, including several of the same Wachusett-area communities The Landmark covers. It is the most directly comparable local news competitor in the same geographic market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/thelandmarknews
• Facebookfacebook.com/HoldenLandmark
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-holden-landmark

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Landmark