ThisWeek Community

What ThisWeek Community does

ThisWeek Community is a community newspaper group founded in 1989 and headquartered in Lewis Center, Ohio, that enables advertisers to target local markets through a portfolio of approximately 25 community newspapers purchased individually or in any combination. The group operates within the Gannet/USA Today Network conglomerate, with corporate, careers, advertising, and privacy infrastructure provided centrally by Gannett.

Its core digital product is The Columbus Dispatch, a local news publication covering news, politics, sports, business, opinion, and real estate for the Columbus, Ohio market, delivered through the dispatch.com website and supporting social channels on Facebook, X, and Instagram. A secondary product is the eNewspaper, a digital replica of the print edition accessible via user.dispatch.com under a subscription model. The technology stack is a standard content management and digital publishing platform; no proprietary technology, app, or API is disclosed in the source data.

The business model combines advertising sales — including through Gannett's LocaliQ Digital Marketing Solutions platform — with consumer-facing digital and eNewspaper subscriptions, supplemented by classifieds, obituaries, public notices, events promotion, contests, and syndicated USA TODAY Network content. The company operates as a private subsidiary of Gannett, with no public ticker, no disclosed funding rounds, and no disclosed revenue figures in the available data.

Name

ThisWeek Community

Legal name

The Columbus Dispatch

Website

https://thisweeknews.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

ThisWeek Community is a community newspaper group founded in 1989 that enables advertisers to target local Ohio markets across a portfolio of 25 community newspapers. Operating within Gannett/USA Today Network, it delivers local news via The Columbus Dispatch website and a paid eNewspaper digital subscription product.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (51311)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industries

Community, Ethnic & Multilingual News Publishers (MPAJADAG), Local News & Weather Stations (MPABACAJ)

Keywords

• Community newspaper network
• Hyperlocal advertising sales
• Local newspaper publishing
• Digital news subscription
• Enewspaper delivery

Headquarters

HQ city

Lewis Center

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Core offering

ThisWeek Community is a network of 25 community newspapers serving local markets in central Ohio, providing advertisers with the ability to place advertising in one newspaper, all 25, or any combination to hyper-target local audiences. The company also publishes associated digital news properties (including The Columbus Dispatch at dispatch.com) and an eNewspaper digital replica product available by subscription, covering News, Sports, Business, Opinion, and Real Estate for Ohio readers.

Product overview

ThisWeek Community operates The Columbus Dispatch as a local digital news media platform offering news content across multiple categories (News, Sports, Business, Opinion, Real Estate) through its website and a digital eNewspaper subscription product. The offering consists of a core news website combined with an eNewspaper digital replica product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ThisWeek Community Newspaper Advertising Network Advertising placements across 25 central Ohio community newspapers that can be purchased individually or in any combination to target specific local markets. Intended for local and regional businesses seeking hyperlocal audience reach in central Ohio communities.
• eNewspaper (Digital Replica) Digital replica of the printed newspaper available by subscription, viewable online through user.dispatch.com so subscribers can read the electronic newspaper edition from any device. Target users are Ohio-area subscribers wanting on-demand digital access to the local paper.
• Columbus Dispatch Digital News Website

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• Patch.com: Digital-first hyperlocal news network covering thousands of US communities; a direct substitute for ThisWeek's community-by-community coverage from a digital-only model, competing for the same local advertising dollars without print costs.
• Nextdoor: Neighborhood-level social platform that increasingly functions as a substitute for community news and local advertising; an emerging competitor for both reader attention and the small-business local ad budgets that ThisWeek monetizes.

Direct peers

• Lee Enterprises: Publicly traded community and daily newspaper operator across the Midwest and US; highly comparable business model of small-market local newspapers monetized via subscription + local advertising, and a benchmark for community-paper economics.
• CNHI (Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.): Operates a large portfolio of community newspapers across the US; highly comparable multi-title community-newspaper business model with comparable advertiser base and geographic diversity.
• Cincinnati Enquirer: Gannett-owned Ohio daily serving the Cincinnati metro; directly comparable as a sister Gannett local newspaper in the same state, sharing ad platforms and subscription infrastructure while covering a different Ohio geography.
• Dayton Daily News: Ohio daily newspaper also serving a Gannett-adjacent Midwest market; comparable as a regional Ohio local newspaper targeting similar advertisers and reader demographics, though Dayton-focused rather than Columbus suburban.
• The Columbus Dispatch: Flagship Gannett daily serving the same Columbus/Central Ohio market as ThisWeek; direct peer because it shares parent, overlapping geography, and competes for the same local advertisers and subscribers, though at the metro rather than community-newspaper tier.
• Shaw Media: Family-owned community newspaper group in Illinois and Iowa; comparable as a multi-title community newspaper operator with similar print+digital mix and small-market advertising focus.
• Gannett Local (USA TODAY Network community papers): Parent Gannett's broader portfolio of ~200+ local daily and community publications; directly comparable as sister community-newspaper properties sharing the same ad-tech stack (LocaliQ), subscription platform, and content syndication model.

Broad incumbents

• Tribune Publishing (now Alden Global Capital-owned titles): Operates regional daily and community newspapers (e.g., Chicago Tribune, NY Daily News, Hartford Courant); comparable as a multi-title local newspaper group under financial ownership pressure, though larger and more metro-focused than ThisWeek's suburban footprint.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/thisweeknews
• Facebookfacebook.com/columbusdispatch
• Instagraminstagram.com/columbusdispatch
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1023123

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 ThisWeek Community