The Daily Independent

What The Daily Independent does

The Daily Independent is a local daily newspaper founded in 1896 serving Ashland, Kentucky and the surrounding northeastern Kentucky counties of Boyd and Greenup, with a coverage focus that includes local news, 16th Region high school sports, obituaries, classifieds, public notices, weather, and opinion content. It is owned by CNHI LLC (Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.), a privately held media company that operates multiple newspaper properties, and is staffed by 11-50 employees at its headquarters at 1544 Winchester Avenue, Suite 600, Ashland, Kentucky.

The publication runs on the BLOX Content Management System from BLOX Digital and distributes its content through a website, a digital E-Paper edition, native iOS and Android mobile applications, and an email newsletter delivered via Constant Contact, alongside its traditional print newspaper. Its product portfolio includes a classifieds marketplace organized into jobs, autos, and homes categories, subscription management tools, and community engagement features such as puzzles, comics, games, and a local events calendar. Distribution is also supported by a Facebook page for marketing and audience reach.

The Daily Independent generates revenue from two primary streams: recurring print and digital subscriptions, processed via auto-renewing monthly credit-card billing that covers both the print newspaper and digital products including the e-paper, and advertising sales comprising display advertising, classifieds, and public/legal notices. Specific subscription and advertising rates are not publicly disclosed. The publication serves individual consumer subscribers and local small-and-medium-business advertisers across its northeastern Kentucky regional footprint.

Name

The Daily Independent

Legal name

The Daily Independent

Website

https://dailyindependent.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1896

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Daily Independent is a daily newspaper founded in 1896 serving Ashland and northeastern Kentucky (Boyd and Greenup counties), owned by CNHI LLC, and distributing local news, sports, and classifieds across print, web, e-paper, mobile apps, and email newsletter.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (51311), Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Local newspaper publishing
• Community news media
• Digital news subscriptions
• Newspaper advertising services
• Classified advertising platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Ashland

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, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Print and Digital Subscriptions: Subscription sales for print publications and digital products. Subscriptions auto-renew with credit card billing. Customers can subscribe to print newspapers and/or digital products including e-paper.
2. Advertising: Newspaper advertising including display ads, classifieds, and public notices. The site has an advertising page and rate card.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Daily Independent is a regional local newspaper that publishes daily news, sports, community events, opinion content, obituaries, classifieds, public notices, and weather information for the Ashland, Kentucky and northeastern Kentucky area. It distributes its content through a print newspaper, a digital website, an E-Paper edition, mobile applications, and an email newsletter, monetizing via subscriptions and advertising.

Product overview

The Daily Independent is a local newspaper website owned by CNHI LLC, operating as a single unified digital platform that delivers local news, sports coverage, community events, opinion content, obituaries, classifieds, and weather updates to the Ashland, Kentucky area. The product portfolio consists of the core website (dailyindependent.com), supplemented by an E-Paper digital edition, mobile applications for iOS and Android, email newsletter services, and subscription-based premium content access. The site also features community sections including puzzles, comics, games, public notices, and an events calendar.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Daily Independent Website (dailyindependent.com) The primary digital platform delivering local news, sports coverage, community content, opinion pieces, classifieds, obituaries, and weather updates to residents of the Ashland, Kentucky and northeastern Kentucky area.
• E-Paper (Digital Edition) Digital replica of the print newspaper accessible through the website for subscribers, providing the print-edition reading experience on digital devices.
• Mobile App Mobile application for iOS and Android devices that provides access to local news content and push notifications for breaking stories, targeted at on-the-go readers.
• Paid Subscriptions Subscription service providing access to print newspaper home delivery and/or digital products including e-paper. Subscriptions auto-renew with credit card billing on a monthly cadence.
• Classifieds Online classified advertising platform featuring job listings, automotive sales, real estate listings, and a self-service place-an-ad functionality for individuals and local businesses.
• Email Newsletter Email-based news digest delivered to subscribers with breaking news, updates, and promotional content, distributed via the Constant Contact platform.
• Newspaper Advertising (Display & Public Notices) Newspaper advertising services including display ads, classifieds, and public notices available via an advertising page and rate card, targeted at local businesses and individuals.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Portsmouth Daily Times: A small-market daily newspaper covering Portsmouth, Ohio and Scioto County in the same Ohio Valley region. Comparable in scale, business model (print + digital subscriptions + advertising), and target audience of small-town readers.
• The Morehead News: A small-market Kentucky newspaper serving Morehead and Rowan County. Operates a similar print + digital subscription + classifieds model targeted at a small Kentucky community, providing a like-for-like peer for revenue and audience benchmarking.
• Park City Daily News: A daily newspaper serving Bowling Green, Kentucky, also owned by CNHI LLC. A sister title within the same parent portfolio with nearly identical operating model, technology stack (BLOX), and revenue mix — useful for benchmarking operating performance.
• The Herald-Dispatch (Huntington): The regional daily newspaper for Huntington, West Virginia, the larger market adjacent to Ashland in the Tri-State area. Directly comparable in product mix (print, e-paper, classifieds, local sports) and as a local paper of record for the broader region.
• The Ironton Tribune: A daily newspaper serving Ironton, Ohio — located directly across the Ohio River from Ashland, KY. Operates in the same Tri-State media market with comparable small-market daily newspaper economics, making it the closest direct peer.

Emerging players

• Axios Local: An emerging digital-first local news initiative from Axios, focused on short-form, digital-native local journalism in select U.S. cities. Represents a partial-overlap digital threat and alternative operating model for hyperlocal news.

Broad incumbents

• Gannett Co. The largest U.S. local newspaper chain, publishing USA TODAY and hundreds of community dailies. Operates many small-market titles with similar subscription + advertising economics, making it a reference point for industry pricing, digital transition benchmarks, and consolidation risk in the local news sector.
• Tribune Publishing: A major U.S. newspaper group historically operating regional dailies (e.g., Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News). Comparable in print + digital subscription model and classifieds/display advertising mix, although skewed toward larger metro markets.
• Lee Enterprises: A publicly-traded U.S. local newspaper operator owning dozens of daily titles across small and mid-sized markets. Highly comparable portfolio economics (subscription + advertising mix, small-market focus), although at meaningfully larger scale than The Daily Independent.
• CNHI LLC: The parent company of The Daily Independent, CNHI LLC operates a network of community newspapers across the U.S. Useful as a portfolio-level reference for how The Daily Independent's economics compare within a diversified local-news group.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/DailyIndependent
• Xx.com/ashlandkydaily
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/independent-daily

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 Daily Independent