The Daily Pennsylvanian

What The Daily Pennsylvanian does

The Daily Pennsylvanian is the independent student-run newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1885 and operated by The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc. as a private non-profit. It serves the Penn community — undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumni — providing coverage of campus news, academics, administration, admissions, business, identities, Philadelphia affairs, politics, science and health, student life, and 20+ sports categories.

Its core offering is a digital-first news platform at thedp.com, supplemented by three wholly-owned sub-brands: 34th Street (an arts and culture magazine), Under the Button (a satirical publication), and Quaker Creative (an in-house creative agency offering design services). Beyond written journalism, the product surface includes podcasts (notably Breaking Bread), video content, photo essays and galleries, interactive puzzles (crosswords, news quiz, mini crosswords, Password), and branded email newsletters (DP Daybreak, Quaker Nation) distributed via Mailchimp. Print editions are maintained through Issuu and periodic special issues. The publication operates from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and uses standard third-party platforms — Mailchimp for newsletters, Blackbaud for donation processing, and Issuu for print distribution — with no proprietary technology stack identified.

The business model is a hybrid of campus advertising sales (via a dedicated Advertise page targeting businesses reaching the Penn audience) and reader donations (via a Blackbaud donor form), with content distributed free of charge. There is no paywall, subscription tier, or publicly disclosed pricing. The advertising and creative-agency services constitute the primary revenue mechanics, while donations are positioned as community-funded support for independent student journalism. No venture capital, private equity, or institutional investment is evident in the source data.

Name

The Daily Pennsylvanian

Legal name

The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc.

Website

https://thedp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1885

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The Daily Pennsylvanian is the independent, student-run newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1885. It serves Penn students, faculty, staff, and alumni with digital news, multimedia, and sub-brand publications (34th Street, Under the Button, Quaker Creative), funded by advertising and reader donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Philadelphia

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, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Advertising: The Daily Pennsylvanian operates an advertising program, with a dedicated 'Advertise' page encouraging businesses to purchase ad space. This is the primary revenue mechanism for the student publication.
2. Donations and Reader Support: The publication maintains a donation page and encourages reader support, framing independent student journalism as reliant on community contributions. A donor form is hosted via a third-party platform (Blackbaud).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Daily Pennsylvanian produces and distributes independent student journalism covering University of Pennsylvania campus news, academics, administration, admissions, business, Philadelphia affairs, politics, science & health, student life, opinion, and 20+ Ivy League sports categories. Content is delivered free of charge via a digital-first platform (thedp.com), periodic print editions on campus and through Issuu, email newsletters, podcasts, video, photo galleries, and interactive puzzles, with three sub-brands — 34th Street, Under the Button, and Quaker Creative — extending the offering into arts/culture, satire, and creative services.

Product overview

The Daily Pennsylvanian is a student-run news organization serving the University of Pennsylvania. The offering is organized as a unified digital news platform supplemented by specialized sub-brands: 34th Street (arts and culture magazine), Under the Button (satirical publication), and Quaker Creative (creative agency). The core product delivers coverage across news, sports, opinion, academics, administration, admissions, business, data, identities, Philadelphia affairs, politics, and science & health sections. Supplementary offerings include newsletters, puzzles (crosswords, news quiz, mini crosswords, password), podcasts (Breaking Bread), video content, and photo galleries. The publications are accessible through print (This Week's Paper via Issuu), web (thedp.com), and multimedia platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 34th Street: The DP's arts and culture magazine
• Under the Button
• Quaker Creative
• DP Daybreak
• Quaker Nation

Products and services

• The Daily Pennsylvanian (The DP) The flagship independent student newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania, delivering daily news, opinion, sports, and feature coverage of Penn campus, Philadelphia affairs, and Ivy League athletics to students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Accessible free of charge on thedp.com, in print, and via newsletters.
• 34th Street

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Market position

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/dailypenn
• Facebookfacebook.com/dailypenn

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries3 records

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 Pennsylvanian