Great West Newspapers

What Great West Newspapers does

Great West Media Limited Partnership, operating under the consumer-facing brand Great West Newspapers, is a privately held Alberta community media company co-owned on a 50/50 basis by Jamison Newspapers and Glacier Media Inc. Headquartered in St. Albert, the company operates a network of community newspapers across more than 40 Alberta communities—including St. Albert Gazette, Western Wheel, Airdrie City View, Cochrane Eagle, Rocky Mountain Outlook, Lakeland Today, The Albertan, and Town and Country Today—alongside nine dynamic news websites, a multi-product newsletter network, and the wholly-owned Mountain View Publishing subsidiary.

The company is organized around three integrated business lines: (1) Publications and Newsletters, providing local news, display and classified print advertising, and digital newsletter advertising; (2) the Great West Digital Agency, offering local display, programmatic (via StackAdapt), SEO/SEM, web design, content marketing (Spotlight sponsored content), paid social, custom contests, and Digital Out-of-Home advertising; and (3) Gazette Press, a 70,000 sq. ft. commercial printing facility in St. Albert operating a KBA Colora press designed with Web Offset Services of Sarasota-Florida, supporting single/double/triple-wide production with computer-to-plate systems, automated changeovers, and 24/7 operations that serve both the company's own publications and external clients including the Edmonton Journal and independent community papers.

Monetization spans advertising (print and digital), commercial printing services, and digital agency professional services, with go-to-market executed through media sales consultants across regional markets, dedicated account representatives for larger commercial printing clients, and a self-serve Print Customer Portal. Pricing is quote-based and customized per client with multi-year contract cadence; there is no public tier pricing. The audience base exceeds 1.4-1.5 million combined print and digital monthly readers with 2.4-2.9 million monthly pageviews/impressions, and the customer base is concentrated among local Alberta SMBs, agricultural suppliers, and community organizations.

Name

Great West Newspapers

Legal name

Great West Media Limited Partnership

Website

https://greatwest.ca

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Great West Media is a privately held Alberta community media company, co-owned by Jamison Newspapers and Glacier Media Inc., publishing newspapers and operating digital news platforms across 40+ communities, with a 70,000 sq. ft. commercial printing facility and an in-house digital marketing agency serving local businesses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industry

Community, Ethnic & Multilingual News Publishers (MPAJADAG)

Keywords

• Community newspaper publishing
• Commercial printing services
• Digital marketing agency
• Local news media
• Display advertising sales

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Albert

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Print Advertising: Advertising revenue from community newspaper publications across 40+ Alberta communities, including display ads, classifieds, and inserts in print editions.
2. Digital Advertising: Revenue from digital display advertising, programmatic advertising, on-network display, newsletter banner ads, and digital feature guides (Hot Summer Guide, Cool Winter Guide) across nine news websites.
3. Commercial Printing Services: 70,000 sq. ft. printing facility serving the company's network and external commercial clients across Alberta. Specializes in newspapers, directories, flyers, educational calendars, and periodicals. 24/7 service operation.
4. Digital Agency Services: Marketing services including Local Display Advertising, Programmatic, SEO, SEM, Web Design, Content Marketing, Paid Social, and Custom Contests offered to local businesses.
5. Sponsored Content (Spotlight): Sponsored articles published across Great West Media's network of news platforms, allowing businesses to share deeper stories in editorial-style format.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Great West Media Limited Partnership publishes community newspapers and operates nine digital news websites across 40+ Alberta communities, reaching 1.5 million monthly readers. The company also operates Gazette Press, a 70,000 sq. ft. commercial printing facility serving external publishers, and runs a Digital Agency offering programmatic advertising, SEO/SEM, content marketing, paid social, and customized marketing solutions to local businesses.

Product overview

Great West Media Limited Partnership is a network of community news outlets across Alberta, co-owned by Jamison Newspapers and Glacier Media Inc. The company operates as a multi-platform media organization offering three core product lines: (1) Publications and Newsletters network covering 40+ Alberta communities including Airdrie City View, Cochrane Eagle, St. Albert Gazette, Lakeland Today, Rocky Mountain Outlook, Western Wheel, The Albertan, and Town and Country Today; (2) a Digital Agency offering Local Display Advertising, Programmatic Advertising, SEO/SEM, Web Design, Content Marketing, Sponsored Content (Spotlight), Paid Social, and Digital Out-of-Home advertising; and (3) Gazette Press, a 70,000 sq. ft. commercial printing facility with KBA Colora press technology serving both the company's network and external commercial clients. The company reaches over 1.5 million readers monthly across print and digital platforms, generating over 2.4 million monthly pageviews.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Great West Digital Agency: Digital marketing services including local display advertising, programmatic, SEO, SEM, web design, content marketing, and custom contests

Products and services

• Publications and Newsletters A network of community newspapers and digital newsletters serving over 40 Alberta communities, including Airdrie City View, Cochrane Eagle, St. Albert Gazette, Lakeland Today, Rocky Mountain Outlook, Western Wheel, The Albertan, and Town and Country Today. Publications provide local news coverage while newsletters deliver daily headlines, contest alerts, obituaries, and seasonal guides.
• Digital Agency Full-service digital marketing division offering Local Display Advertising, Programmatic Advertising, SEO, SEM, Web Design, Content Marketing, Custom Contests, Paid Social, and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising services targeting local Alberta audiences across the company's news website network.
• Gazette Press (Commercial Printing) A 70,000 sq. ft. commercial printing facility in St. Albert, Alberta, operating a KBA Colora press with single, double, and triple-wide production capabilities. Specializes in printing newspapers, directories, flyers, educational calendars, and periodicals using computer-to-plate (CTP) systems. Offers saddle stitching and perfect binding finishing services.
• Spotlight Content Marketing Sponsored article service where Great West Media writes professionally produced content published across the network's news websites, enabling businesses to tell their story in an editorial-style format with credibility from local journalism context.
• Programmatic Advertising Automated targeted advertising using real-time data for keyword targeting, contextual targeting, site retargeting, and geo-fencing across websites, apps, streaming platforms, and digital environments.
• Free Marketing Assessment Complimentary marketing evaluation service provided by Media Sales Consultants and Digital Media Strategists to assess current marketing efforts, identify gaps, and provide tailored strategic recommendations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reach of 1.4-1.5 million monthly readers
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Web Offset ServicescoreTechnology or IntegrationWeb Offset Services of Sarasota-Florida designed Great West Media's new production facility including state-of-the-art printing press with fully automated and integrated workflow system. One of the most versatile and efficient coldset printing operations.
• Mountain View PublishingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSubsidiary of Great West Media serving Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs, Innisfail, Sundre and beyond. Murray Elliott is a shareholder in this subsidiary.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Torstar Corporation: Canadian newspaper and digital media company (Toronto Star, regional dailies, digital verticals). Comparable as a Canadian newspaper operator pivoting toward digital advertising and audience monetization, though serving larger urban markets than GWM's hyperlocal focus.
• Metroland Media Group: Community newspaper publisher in Ontario serving numerous local markets with print and digital products. Comparable as a multi-community Canadian newspaper group with similar SMB advertiser base, although currently restructuring under post-creditor-shield operations.
• SaltWire Network: Atlantic Canadian newspaper publisher operating multiple daily and community titles. Comparable as a regional Canadian newspaper network targeting the same SMB advertiser demographic, albeit with a different geographic footprint.
• Postmedia Network: Canada's largest newspaper publisher operating daily and community titles across the country. Highly comparable as a Canadian multi-title newspaper group competing for the same local and national advertising dollars, although materially larger and more national in scope than GWM.
• Black Press Media: Western Canadian community newspaper publisher with a comparable hyperlocal model and multi-community footprint. Directly comparable business model — community newspaper network with print, digital, and commercial printing operations serving similar SMB advertisers.

Broad incumbents

• Quebecor Media: Canadian media and telecommunications conglomerate operating TVA Group newspapers and broadcasting. Comparable as a Canadian media operator with newspaper holdings, though bundled into a much larger telecom/media portfolio.
• TC Transcontinental (Print sector): Large Canadian commercial printer and packaging company. Comparable on the Gazette Press commercial printing side, with overlapping newspaper and flyer printing capabilities at meaningful scale, though much broader in product scope.
• Glacier Media Inc. 50/50 co-owner of Great West Media and a publicly traded Canadian information company with a broad portfolio of community newspapers, trade publications, and digital media assets. Comparable as an overlapping investor/operator in the same community-newspaper consolidation thesis.

Emerging players

• Village Media: Canadian digital-first community news operator with a network of local news sites in Ontario and Western Canada. Comparable audience-targeting approach for local advertisers but with no print or commercial printing exposure.

Regional players

• Brunswick News Inc. Privately held newspaper publisher dominant in New Brunswick with daily and community titles plus printing operations. Comparable hyperlocal newspaper and printing model, though serving Atlantic Canada rather than Alberta.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/greatwestnews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/great-west-newspapers-l.p.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries2 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 Great West Newspapers