What Vail Daily does

Vail Daily is a privately held local newspaper founded in 1981 in Avon, Colorado, and owned by Swift Communications, Inc. since October 1993. It serves the Vail Valley and Eagle County communities with daily print and digital news, government, sports, real estate, classifieds, and lifestyle coverage. The publication produces 70-100 pages per day at an average run-rate of 1,000 display and classified ads per day and reaches approximately 13,000 daily print readers via free distribution. Its technology stack is a conventional WordPress-based CMS with Google Analytics, Google DoubleClick ad serving, CitySpark event management, and PageSuite e-edition rendering, supported by approximately 25 dedicated staff plus 60 shared employees from the parent company's Colorado Mountain News Media (CMNM) operations.

Revenue is generated primarily through local display and classified advertising, supplemented by e-edition digital subscriptions, niche magazine sub-brands (Vail Valley, ART, Bike and Hike, Summer, Vail Valley Home), the weekly Eagle Valley Enterprise companion paper, and a shared CMNM classifieds marketplace covering jobs, rentals, real estate, autos, and service directory listings. The go-to-market is direct-to-consumer and direct-to-local-business via print racks, home delivery, vaildaily.com, email newsletters, social media, RSS, and event listings. The business model is a traditional local-media advertising platform with incremental digital extensions layered onto a 40+ year-old community print franchise in an affluent Colorado mountain-resort market.

Name

Vail Daily

Legal name

Swift Communications, Inc.

Website

https://vaildaily.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Vail Daily is a privately held daily newspaper serving Eagle Valley and Vail Valley, Colorado, with 13,000 print circulation and roughly 85 staff, generating revenue from local display and classified advertising and e-edition subscriptions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industries

Newsletters & Email-Based News Publishers (B2B/B2C) (MPAJADAJ), Subscription & Fulfillment Services (Print & Digital) (MPAJAKAB)

Keywords

• Local newspaper
• Community news
• Digital editions
• Classified advertising
• Regional journalism

Headquarters

HQ city

Avon

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

Revenue model

1. Display Advertising: The Vail Daily generates significant revenue from display advertising, averaging 70 to 100 pages per day with a combined average of 1,000 display and classified ads per day. Local businesses change their ads sometimes daily.
2. Classified Advertising: Classified ads covering jobs, rentals, real estate, autos, and service directory listings. Combined with display advertising, the paper averages 1,000 ads per day.
3. E-Edition Subscriptions: Digital subscriptions for e-editions including daily and weekly versions available through PageSuite digital reader platform.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Vail Daily publishes a daily local newspaper serving the Vail Valley, Eagle Valley, Beaver Creek, and surrounding Colorado mountain communities, averaging 70 to 100 pages per day with 13,000 daily circulation. The company operates free print distribution complemented by digital e-editions via PageSuite, email newsletters, and an online classifieds marketplace, generating revenue primarily through display and classified advertising plus e-edition subscriptions.

Product overview

Vail Daily is a traditional local news media company operating primarily as a daily newspaper serving the Vail Valley and Eagle Valley communities in Colorado. The company offers a single core product (the Vail Daily newspaper) along with supporting digital services including an E-Edition for digital access, email newsletters for breaking news delivery, and an online Events Calendar. The publication also encompasses several magazine sub-brands (Vail Valley Magazine, ART Magazine, Bike and Hike Magazine, Summer Magazine, Vail Valley Home Magazine) and a companion weekly publication (Eagle Valley Enterprise). Digital features include webcams, snow reports, and river flow/fishing reports. The company generates revenue primarily through advertising (display and classified ads) and operates as part of Swift Communications network. The product portfolio represents a traditional newspaper model with digital extensions rather than a modern tech platform architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Vail Daily Newspaper A daily local newspaper serving the Vail Valley, Eagle Valley, Beaver Creek, and surrounding Colorado mountain communities, with 13,000 daily circulation and averaging 70 to 100 pages per day of news, sports, entertainment, and community coverage.
• Vail Daily E-Edition Digital version of the daily newspaper accessible through the PageSuite web-based reader platform, providing online access to the publication's content via paid subscription.
• Vail Daily Classifieds Online marketplace for classified advertisements covering Jobs, Rentals, Real Estate, Autos, Service Directory, Merchandise, and Announcements, integrated with Colorado Mountain News Media.
• Eagle Valley Enterprise Weekly community newspaper published on Thursdays covering western Eagle Valley from Wolcott west to Dotsero, with emphasis on Eagle and Gypsum news and events; wholly-owned adjacent publication by Swift Communications.
• Vail Valley Magazine Magazine publication covering Vail Valley lifestyle, home, and community topics.
• ART Magazine Magazine focused on arts and culture in the Vail Valley region.
• Bike and Hike Magazine Magazine covering outdoor recreation activities including biking and hiking in the Vail Valley.
• Summer Magazine Seasonal magazine highlighting summer activities and events in the Vail Valley.
• Vail Valley Home Magazine Home and real estate focused magazine covering the Vail Valley region.

Quantifiable outcome

• 13,000 daily circulation
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Aspen Daily News: Free daily newspaper covering Aspen and Pitkin County, Colorado—another affluent Colorado ski-resort community with the same free-distribution, tourism-driven local advertising model as Vail Daily.
• Steamboat Pilot & Today: Daily newspaper in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, covering a similar ski-resort and second-home market with overlapping advertising categories (real estate, lodging, outdoor recreation).
• Sky-Hi News: Local newspaper covering Grand County, Colorado (Winter Park, Granby), another mountain-resort market with the same free-distribution and tourism-advertising profile.
• Crested Butte News: Weekly newspaper serving Crested Butte and the surrounding Gunnison Valley, Colorado—another resort-driven mountain community with overlapping ski, real estate, and outdoor recreation ad verticals.
• Aspen Times: Long-running local newspaper covering Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley under Swift Communications—directly comparable in coverage model, parent network, and resort-market advertiser base.
• Park Record: Local newspaper serving Park City, Utah—a premier U.S. ski-resort community with a comparable tourism-driven, luxury real estate-heavy advertising mix to Vail Daily's market.
• Summit Daily News: Daily newspaper serving Summit County, Colorado (Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain), owned by Swift Communications—same parent network, same resort-market free-distribution model.
• Glenwood Springs Post Independent: Daily newspaper in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, also under Swift Communications—directly comparable in operations, parent affiliation, and mountain-community advertiser base.
• Telluride Daily Planet: Daily newspaper covering the Telluride region of Colorado—a high-end ski-resort and festival destination with parallel local-news and resort-advertising dynamics.

Others

• Colorado Mountain News Media: Parent network of Vail Daily under Swift Communications; provides the ~60 shared employees and the CMNM classifieds platform that Vail Daily leverages—relevant for ecosystem context rather than direct competition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vaildaily
• Facebookfacebook.com/VailNews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nrc-broadcasting

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 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 Vail Daily