Local News International

What Local News International does

Local News International (LNI), operating as Family Loser, LLC, is a creator-led digital media company founded in August 2025 by three former Washington Post video executives — Dave Jorgenson, Lauren Saks, and Micah Gelman — and headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The company produces daily short-form news videos distributed across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, alongside a twice-weekly newsletter delivered via the beehiiv platform. Its editorial positioning centers on humor-driven, fact-based journalism targeted at audiences underserved by traditional and partisan media, particularly men under 35. The production workflow relies on conventional tools — Adobe Premiere Pro for editing, human-written burned-in captions, and licensed APM Music — with an explicit refusal to use AI in news production treated as a brand differentiator.

LNI monetizes through five streams: tiered memberships (Hyper Local $60/yr, Local $162/yr, International $500/yr) accounting for roughly 49% of revenue; media-strategy consulting for news publishers and think tanks (Guardian, Pew Research, USAFacts, PIIE) at roughly 21%; newsletter sponsorship and subscription at 14%; brand partnerships and sponsored content with Harry's as the flagship advertiser; plus grant funding (Omidyar Group) and speaking engagements. The company is bootstrapped, profitable within its first year of operation, and operates with 3 full-time staff plus contractors. It has accumulated roughly 850,000 followers across platforms, won the 2026 Webby Award (Best Creator, Personality or Host) and the 2026 WAN-IFRA Global Award (Best in Audience Engagement), and is planning expansion into additional creators (climate, potentially Spanish-language), long-form video, and considering outside capital.

Name

Local News International

Legal name

Family Loser, LLC

Website

https://lni.media

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Local News International is a creator-led digital media company founded in 2025 by ex-Washington Post video executives, producing daily short-form news videos and a twice-weekly newsletter targeted at young, underserved news audiences, monetized via memberships, consulting, advertising, and grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital News Media

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (51311), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210), Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

National & General-Interest Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

News Streaming Platforms (MPACAAAF), Syndication, Licensing & Content Partnerships (Columns, Features, Photos) (MPAJADAI)

Keywords

• Short-form news video
• Digital newsletter publishing
• Media strategy consulting
• Creator-led journalism
• Brand partnership content

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Membership/Subscriptions: Recurring membership revenue from three tiers (Hyper Local Student, Local Tier, International Tier). Revenue split of approximately 49% of total revenue.
2. Consulting/Media Strategies: Professional services consulting for media organizations on video strategy, audience development, newsletter growth, and brand partnerships. Accounts for approximately 21% of revenue.
3. Newsletter Revenue: Newsletter sponsorship and subscription revenue, accounting for approximately 14% of total revenue.
4. Advertising/Sponsorships: Brand collaborations and sponsored content, including social media sponsorships, video integrations, and bespoke brand partnerships. Harry's Razors is a notable advertising client.
5. Grants: Grant funding from organizations such as The Omidyar Group. Grants represent a portion of remaining revenue sources.
6. Speaking Engagements: Revenue from speaking engagements at industry events and conferences.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Local News International produces and distributes original short-form news video content (daily) and a twice-weekly newsletter to younger audiences underserved by traditional and partisan media. The company monetizes this content through a tiered direct-to-consumer membership program (Hyper Local Student, Local, and International tiers), brand partnerships and advertising integrations, a B2B Media Strategies consulting practice for news publishers, and a merchandise storefront. Distribution relies on multi-platform social reach across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat plus the beehiiv newsletter platform.

Product overview

Local News International (LNI) is a social-first video company founded by award-winning journalists Dave Jorgenson, Lauren Saks, and Micah Gelman. The company operates as a multi-platform media business with core offerings including daily short-form video content distributed across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, alongside a twice-weekly newsletter delivered via beehiiv. The product suite includes a membership program offering tiered access with benefits like Discord access, archive content, and Q&As; media strategy consulting services for organizations; brand partnership and advertising solutions; and a merchandise store. LNI differentiates through humor-based factual journalism targeting underserved audiences, particularly men under 35, and has won industry recognition including Webby and WAN-IFRA awards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Short-Form News Video Content
• Twice-Weekly Newsletter
• LNI Membership Subscription Recurring subscription program with three tiers — Hyper Local (Student) at $5/month or $54/year, Local at $15/month or $162/year, and International (founding member) at $500/year — offering benefits such as an ad-free experience, unlocked comments, archive access, Discord access, quarterly Zoom Q&As, stickers, behind-the-scenes content, and early merchandise access.
• LNI Media Strategies Consulting Professional services consulting for news publishers, broadcasters, and media organizations covering video strategy, audience development, newsletter strategy, brand partnerships, SEO/social/paid media strategies, resourcing analysis, and talent development. Clients include The Guardian, This American Life, USAFacts, PIIE, Pew Research Center, and News Revenue Hub.
• Brand Partnerships and Advertising Sponsored content and advertising opportunities across LNI's social media channels and newsletter, including brand collaborations, host-read testimonials, video integrations, and bespoke partnerships. Harry's is a flagship brand partner through the 'Will Dave Shave?' video series.
• LNI Merchandise Store Online branded merchandise storefront operated through DFTBA, selling LNI apparel, stickers, and related items including Dave and Lola stickers and founding-member merchandise.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 400,000 YouTube subscribers, 335,000 TikTok followers, 119,000 Instagram followers within approximately one year of launch
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

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

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• MediaWisecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 March 2026LNI partnered with MediaWise (Poynter Institute) and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation to help teens create engaging content their peers can trust. Teens learn vertical video creation, caption writing, and short-form editing for platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
• Gamertag RadiominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 February 2026LNI co-founder Dave Jorgenson joined Gamertag Radio's Danny Peña and Riana Manuel-Peña in MediaWise's Gamers Against Manipulation Efforts initiative, empowering gamers and content creators to avoid toxicity in online gaming.
• Harry'sflagshipGTM or Marketing Partner · 28 October 2025LNI partnered with Harry's for the 'Will Dave Shave?' video series - a five-episode story arc where Dave Jorgenson interned at Harry's New York offices, trying their products and the new Harry's Plus razor. This was LNI's first brand collaboration, premiering weekly in November 2025 across all LNI social channels. The partnership reflects LNI's approach to authentic brand storytelling.
• The GuardiancoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerThe Guardian is listed as a consulting client for LNI's Media Strategies practice, receiving video strategy and audience development consulting services.
• This American LifecoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerThis American Life is listed as a consulting client for LNI's Media Strategies practice, receiving podcast/video strategy consulting services.
• USAFactscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerUSAFacts is listed as a consulting client for LNI's Media Strategies practice. Also appears as a funder in LNI's transparency report.
• PIIE (Peterson Institute for International Economics)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPIIE is listed as a consulting client for LNI's Media Strategies practice, receiving media strategy consulting services.
• Pew Research CentercoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPew Research Center is listed as a consulting client for LNI's Media Strategies practice, receiving audience development and video strategy consulting.
• News Revenue HubcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerNews Revenue Hub is listed as a consulting client for LNI's Media Strategies practice and also appears as a funder in LNI's transparency report.
• beehiivcoreGTM or Marketing Partnerbeehiiv is LNI's newsletter platform provider and a mutual marketing partner. Dave Jorgenson promotes beehiiv to his audience using the DAVE30 discount code (30% off first three months), while beehiiv sponsors the newsletter. The partnership is featured in every newsletter.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• The Young Turks (TYT): TYT is a large digital news and opinion network producing progressive video content for younger audiences across YouTube and social platforms. It overlaps with LNI's audience targeting and video-first distribution, though at much larger scale and with a different political positioning.
• Vox: Vox is a large digital media company producing explanatory news and short-form video content for younger, digitally native audiences. It is comparable to LNI in audience demographic and video-first approach, but operates at much greater scale and is backed by Vox Media.

Emerging players

• Ground News: Ground News is a subscription-supported digital news platform focused on media literacy, bias comparison, and fact-based news consumption. Its emphasis on media literacy and a younger, news-distrustful audience overlaps directly with LNI's stated positioning.
• The Information: The Information is a founder-led (Jessica Lessin) subscription digital news outlet focused on tech and business. It is comparable to LNI as a recently launched, profitable, subscription-driven digital news company, though in a different vertical (tech vs general news).

Direct peers

• Brut. Brut. is a global short-form news and current-affairs video publisher on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube targeting Gen Z and Millennial audiences. Its vertical-video, mobile-first news format and youth audience positioning are highly comparable to LNI.
• AJ+ (Al Jazeera): AJ+ is a short-form news video publisher producing mobile-first, social-native news content for young audiences globally. Its format and distribution model closely match LNI's daily short-form approach, though backed by the Al Jazeera network.
• Semafor: Semafor is a digital-first, founder-led global news startup with a newsletter-heavy distribution model. It is directly comparable to LNI as a recently launched, subscription-supported digital news outlet targeting engaged news readers, though at significantly larger scale.
• NowThis: NowThis is a short-form, social-first news video publisher targeting younger audiences across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. It is a direct product-format peer to LNI's short-form news video model, though at substantially larger scale and backed by Group Nine Media/NowThis parent.
• 1440 Media: 1440 Media is a daily newsletter-driven digital news company that delivers impartial news summaries to a large opt-in email audience. Like LNI, it monetizes through advertising and sponsorship rather than hard paywalls, and targets news-seeking professionals and engaged readers.
• Puck News: Puck News is a founder-led (by Brian Stelter and others) subscription digital news company covering media, politics, and entertainment via newsletters. It parallels LNI's founder-led, newsletter-centric subscription model targeting engaged, professional audiences.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@DaveJorgenson
• Instagraminstagram.com/davejorgenson1
• TikToktiktok.com/@davejorgenson
• Facebookfacebook.com/LNI-Media-61578702839023
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lnimedia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 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 Local News International