The Pilot News

What The Pilot News does

The Pilot News is a privately held local newspaper serving Plymouth, Indiana and Marshall County. Founded in 1851, the publication operates from its headquarters at 218 N. Michigan, Plymouth, and employs between 11 and 50 staff. It covers local news, high school and community sports, obituaries, classifieds, community events, and entertainment wire content, and it publishes a companion sub-brand, the Culver Citizen, covering the adjacent Culver area.

The publication's core technology stack is the Flex BLOX Content Management System from BLOX Digital, which powers thepilotnews.com and handles content management, subscription workflows, digital publishing, and classified advertising. The platform is supplemented by a set of integrated third-party services: PressReader hosts a globally accessible digital e-edition, Legacy.com manages obituary listings, NewsBank provides historical archive search, and evvnt.com enables local event promotion and ticketing. Product surface spans a main news website, an e-edition, classifieds, obituaries, an archive, a local weather widget, subscription services, a self-service ad placement tool, a local events calendar, multimedia galleries, community announcements, and sponsored "Online Features" verticals.

The business model combines recurring subscription revenue (home delivery and digital e-edition subscriptions billed monthly), print and digital advertising sold to local businesses, fee-based classified listings across real estate, jobs, vehicles, and other categories, and referral/affiliate commissions from evvnt.com event promotion. The primary customer segments are local residents of Plymouth and Marshall County seeking community news, and local SMBs purchasing advertising and classified placements; the publisher also sells sponsored editorial content through its Online Features sections. No parent company, institutional investors, or funding rounds are disclosed.

Name

The Pilot News

Legal name

The Pilot News

Website

https://thepilotnews.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1851

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Pilot News is a privately held local newspaper serving Plymouth and Marshall County, Indiana, delivering local news, sports, obituaries, classifieds, and community events via print home delivery and a digital website powered by BLOX CMS.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Local newspaper publishing
• Community news coverage
• Digital news media
• Classified advertising platform
• Local journalism services

Headquarters

HQ city

Plymouth

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription Services: Home delivery and digital subscription services for newspaper content
2. Print and Digital Advertising: Advertising space sold to local businesses, including display ads, classified ads, and promotional content
3. Classified Advertising: Fee-based classified listings for real estate, vehicles, jobs, and other categories
4. Event Promotion Services: Commission from event promotion through evvnt.com partnership

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Pilot News is a local community newspaper that publishes local news, sports, high school athletics, obituaries, classifieds, and community event coverage for Plymouth and Marshall County, Indiana. It distributes content through print home delivery, a digital e-edition via PressReader, and the main website, with subscriptions, display advertising, and classified listings as its primary offerings. A companion publication, the Culver Citizen, extends local coverage to the adjacent Culver area.

Product overview

The Pilot News is a local community newspaper serving Plymouth and Marshall County, Indiana. The publication operates as a unified digital platform offering its core news products through multiple channels: the main news website delivering local news, sports, entertainment, and classifieds; the Pilot News E-Edition and Culver Citizen E-Edition digital replicas of the printed newspapers via PressReader; and the Archives service via NewsBank for historical content. Supporting features include Local Weather forecasts, Subscription Services for home delivery and digital access, and a Place an Ad self-service advertising platform. The site also features community-focused sections for Local Events, Announcements, and Online Features sponsored content.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Culver Citizen: A companion publication covering Culver, Indiana community news

Products and services

• The Pilot News Website The main online news portal providing local news, sports, entertainment, classifieds, and multimedia content for Plymouth, Marshall County, and surrounding Indiana communities.
• Pilot News E-Edition Digital replica of the printed newspaper accessible through PressReader, providing subscribers with an interactive reading experience of the full newspaper edition.
• Subscription Services Home delivery and digital subscription services enabling readers to access print and digital content with monthly billing options.
• Classifieds Online classified advertising platform featuring categories including Real Estate, Property for Rent, Cars & Vehicles, Jobs, Items for Sale, Pets, Auctions, Services, and Community listings.
• Place an Ad Self-service advertising platform allowing businesses and individuals to submit classified ads for publication in both print and digital editions.
• Obituaries Funeral announcements and obituary listings integrated with Legacy.com, providing death notices and memorial information for local community members.
• Archives Historical article search and retrieval service powered by NewsBank, allowing access to past issues and archived content.
• Multimedia Photo galleries and video content featuring local stories, events, and community coverage including sports highlights and news features.
• Culver Citizen E-Edition Digital edition of the Culver Citizen, a companion publication covering the Culver area, accessible through PressReader.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• PressReadercoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership provides e-edition digital reading platform, allowing Pilot News subscribers to access the digital newspaper through PressReader's global platform. This enables digital delivery and accessibility for subscribers.
• Legacy.comcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership provides obituary publishing and management platform. Legacy.com hosts the obituary section for The Pilot News, allowing families to submit obituaries and readers to access death notices.
• evvnt.comminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership enables event promotion services through evvnt.com platform, allowing local organizations to promote events through The Pilot News website. The Pilot News receives referral/commission for event promotion.
• BLOX DigitalcoreTechnology or IntegrationBLOX Digital provides the BLOX Content Management System (Flex BLOX CMS) that powers The Pilot News website, enabling content management, digital publishing, subscription handling, and classified advertising functionality.

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Lee Enterprises: Mid-sized U.S. newspaper publisher operating daily and weekly local newspapers across the Midwest and beyond. Comparable as a broad incumbent with overlapping subscription, advertising, and digital services revenue mix across many small markets similar to Plymouth.
• Tribune Publishing: National newspaper publisher of regional dailies including the Chicago Tribune. Comparable as a broad incumbent with overlapping print, digital subscription, and advertising revenue streams, though operating at metro scale rather than small-town community scale.
• Gannett (USA Today Network / Indianapolis Star): Largest U.S. newspaper publisher operating hundreds of local dailies including the Indianapolis Star and several Indiana papers. Comparable as a broad incumbent whose local papers compete for the same regional advertising and subscription dollars, but at much greater scale and with deeper digital resources.

Direct peers

• South Bend Tribune: Regional daily newspaper serving the South Bend area of northern Indiana with print and digital editions, classifieds, and local sports coverage. Comparable business model and regional geography in Indiana, though operating at a larger market scale.
• Warsaw Times-Union: A small-market daily newspaper serving Warsaw and Kosciusko County, Indiana. Closely comparable to The Pilot News in scale, geographic focus, and community newspaper business model, operating just east of the Marshall County footprint.
• Rochester Sentinel: Local daily newspaper serving Rochester and Fulton County, Indiana, immediately south of Marshall County. Highly comparable as a small-town Indiana daily with overlapping geographic market and similar legacy print plus emerging digital model.
• Culver Citizen: A companion local publication under The Pilot News' umbrella covering Culver, Indiana, distributed through PressReader. Treated as a peer because it operates as an independent-feeling small-town community paper with the same editorial DNA and revenue model.
• LaPorte County Herald-Argus: Daily newspaper covering LaPorte County in northwestern Indiana. Comparable as a legacy small-market Indiana local newspaper delivering news, sports, classifieds, and obituaries on a print-and-digital model.
• The Goshen News: A daily local newspaper serving Goshen and Elkhart County, Indiana, using the same BLOX CMS platform and offering print plus digital e-edition subscriptions. Directly comparable as a small-market Indiana daily with similar subscription, advertising, and classifieds revenue mix.

Emerging players

• Patch.com: Hyperlocal digital news network covering thousands of U.S. communities, including Indiana towns. Comparable as an emerging player in the same local-news category but distributed only digitally with no print presence, representing a structural competitor for digital local advertising spend.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PilotNewsGroup
• Facebookfacebook.com/PilotNewsGroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pilot-news

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Pilot News