Montana Newspaper Association

What Montana Newspaper Association does

Montana Newspaper Association (MNA) is a nonprofit trade association founded in 1885 that represents 81 daily and weekly newspapers across Montana. The organization acts as the single point of contact for advertisers seeking statewide reach, offering display advertising (400,000+ readers), classified advertising ($149 for a 25-word ad across 67+ papers), online advertising (250,000+ users across 38+ papers), and content distribution services. MNA also operates the Montana News Tracker, a digital news clipping service that monitors keyword mentions across member publications, and provides press distribution, public notice placement, digital archive access, and legislative advocacy to its membership.

MNA's business model combines advertising commissions and placement fees on statewide ad buys with recurring annual membership dues from its 81 member newspapers. The organization generates revenue across four streams: display advertising, classified advertising, online advertising, and membership services. Pricing follows a unit-pricing model with frequency discounts, and the Member Access portal enables advertisers to submit weekly insertion orders. The organization's marketing channels are concentrated on direct member services, the Member Access portal, and an annual industry convention.

MNA is headquartered in Missoula, Montana, with a small staff of 1-10 employees. It operates an affiliated nonprofit, the Montana Newspaper Foundation, which administers journalism scholarships and internship grants, including a 2026 Internship Grant Program. The organization has positioned itself as the recognized statewide voice for Montana's newspaper industry, with a mission to defend freedom of the press and promote newspaper readership.

Name

Montana Newspaper Association

Legal name

Montana Newspaper Association

Website

https://mtnewspapers.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1885

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Montana Newspaper Association is a nonprofit trade association founded in 1885 that represents 81 daily and weekly Montana newspapers. It operates as the single statewide contact for display, classified, and online advertising, plus the Montana News Tracker media monitoring service.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Newspaper Advertising & Trade Association Services

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Media Representatives (54184), Public Relations Agencies (54182)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711), Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industry

Media Relations & Press Office Services (MPAAADAI)

Keywords

• Statewide newspaper advertising
• Classified ad network
• Display advertising services
• Media monitoring clipping
• Press distribution services

Headquarters

HQ city

Missoula

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Display Advertising: Statewide display advertising reaching 400,000+ readers across Montana newspapers. Advertisers can reach nearly 75% of Montana's homes through a single point of contact.
2. Classified Advertising: Single 25-word classified ad appearing in 67+ newspapers with readership of 400,000 people. Cost-effective statewide distribution.
3. Online Advertising: Statewide online advertising reaching 250,000+ people across 38+ newspapers statewide.
4. Membership Services: Annual membership fees and services provided to 81 daily and weekly newspapers in Montana, including press distribution services, digital archive access, public notices, and educational support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Montana Newspaper Association serves as the single point of contact for placing statewide advertisements across its 81 daily and weekly member newspapers in Montana, reaching nearly 75% of Montana households. MNA packages Display, Classified, Online, and Quarter-Page Advertising; Content Distribution; and the proprietary Montana News Tracker digital clipping service, alongside member newspaper services such as press distribution, digital archive access, public notice placement, advocacy, and education.

Product overview

Montana Newspaper Association operates as a membership-based trade organization offering a suite of advertising and content services for Montana's newspaper industry. The core product portfolio includes five interconnected services: Display Advertising and Statewide Quarter-Page Advertising for visual print placements; Classified Advertising and Online Advertising for digital and print classified reach; Content Distribution for message dissemination; and Montana News Tracker for media monitoring. The organization serves as a centralized single contact for advertisers to reach 81 member newspapers, representing daily and weekly publications across Montana since 1885.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Display Advertising Statewide display advertising service reaching 400,000+ readers across Montana newspapers, offering single-contact scheduling for placement across 81 membership publications for advertisers seeking Montana-wide household reach.
• Classified Advertising Classified advertising network placing $149 single 25-word ads in 67+ newspapers with 400,000 people readership reach, providing cost-effective statewide classified distribution.
• Online Advertising Statewide online advertising reaching 250,000+ people across 38+ Montana newspapers, extending advertising reach to readers of member newspaper websites.
• Statewide Quarter-Page Advertising Quarter-page display advertising option for statewide placement across MNA member newspapers.
• Content Distribution Content distribution service connecting advertiser messages to newspapers across Montana for statewide audience reach via MNA's direct newspaper connections.
• Montana News Tracker Technology-driven digital news clipping service that monitors ALL mentions of key search words across all 80 Montana newspapers, enabling organizations to track mentions of their organization, competitors, customers, clients, and constituents for media monitoring and intelligence.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Montana Newspaper FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Montana Newspaper Foundation supports journalism education through scholarships and internship grants. MNF provides the MNF Journalism Scholarship and the 2026 Internship Grant Program to support future journalists in Montana.
• Edge MarketingminorOthersEdge Marketing provides website development services for the Montana Newspaper Association.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Illinois Press Association: State-level newspaper trade association offering ad network services, classified placement, and member support to Illinois newspapers, directly mirroring MNA's model of consolidated statewide advertising representation.
• Local Media Association: A national association serving local newspapers and media outlets with revenue-generation programs, advertising support, and digital transformation services — overlapping MNA's role but with a multi-state, multi-format scope.
• California Newspaper Publishers Association: California's statewide newspaper trade group offering advertising placement, public-notice services, and advocacy for daily and weekly papers — the same product mix as MNA, scaled to a much larger state market.
• Texas Press Association: Statewide trade association for Texas newspapers providing collective advertising placement, classified networks, public-notice services, and legislative advocacy — the same functional bundle MNA offers in Montana, scaled to a much larger state.
• Minnesota Newspaper Association: A neighboring state newspaper association with an almost identical operating model: statewide ad placement network, classified network, member services, and advocacy for daily and weekly newspapers — directly comparable in scope and structure to MNA.

Regional players

• Montana Broadcasters Association: Montana's parallel trade association for radio and television broadcasters, providing statewide ad-sales support, advocacy, and member services — comparable in mission to MNA but for broadcast rather than print.

Broad incumbents

• National Newspaper Association: The U.S. national trade association for community newspapers, providing advocacy, member services, and advertising programs analogous to MNA's role but at the federal level across all states.
• News/Media Alliance: The largest U.S. newspaper and digital media trade organization (formerly NAA), representing newspaper publishers in policy, advocacy, and industry initiatives — a broader, national-scale analogue to MNA's industry-advocacy function.

Others

• BurrellesLuce: A commercial media-monitoring and clipping service comparable to MNA's Montana News Tracker product — a for-profit vendor competing for the same media-monitoring use cases (tracking mentions across news outlets) that MNA offers statewide.
• Editor & Publisher: A long-standing trade publication and industry resource serving the U.S. newspaper business — adjacent to MNA as an information and intelligence provider for the same newspaper-industry customer base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/mtnewspapers
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/montana-newspaper-association

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

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 Montana Newspaper Association