Steubenville Herald-Star

What Steubenville Herald-Star does

The Steubenville Herald-Star (operating as "The Herald Star") is a privately-held local daily newspaper serving the Ohio Valley region, with its headquarters at 401 Herald Square, Steubenville, Ohio. The publication covers Steubenville, Weirton, New Cumberland, Wellsburg, and surrounding communities across Jefferson County (Ohio), Hancock County (West Virginia), and Brooke County (West Virginia), and it aggregates Ohio, national, and international news through wire services. Editorial sections include Local News, Community, Business, Sports, Opinion, Life, Obituaries, Classifieds, and Jobs, reflecting a classic community-newspaper content mix.

The business operates across three primary distribution channels: traditional print home delivery, a digital presence anchored by heraldstaronline.com, and mobile access via the mynewsonthego.com e-edition platform. The technology stack is described as standard regional-newspaper content management and digital publishing tooling, with no proprietary technology, AI/ML capability, or differentiated platform architecture disclosed. Marketing is conducted through the website, a daily email newsletter, and Facebook/Twitter social channels.

The revenue model combines recurring print and digital subscriptions (sold via subscribe.heraldstaronline.com on weekly billing cadence), local and regional advertising (display, classifieds, job listings), and transaction-based revenue from public notices and classifieds. The customer base is the general local readership of the Ohio Valley plus small/medium local businesses advertising in the paper. Headcount is 1-10 employees; no revenue figures, funding history, ownership structure beyond "privately-held," or institutional investors are disclosed. Operational fragility was visible on July 7, 2026, when the print edition was cancelled due to electrical and mechanical issues at the production facility.

Name

Steubenville Herald-Star

Legal name

The Herald Star

Website

https://heraldstaronline.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Steubenville Herald-Star is a privately-held local daily newspaper serving the Ohio Valley region (Steubenville, OH and surrounding communities in eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia) through print delivery, a website, e-edition, and mobile app, monetized via subscriptions, local advertising, and classifieds.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Local newspaper
• Daily news
• Community journalism
• Digital subscription
• Print media

Headquarters

HQ city

Steubenville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Digital Subscriptions: Revenue generated from digital subscriptions including e-edition access and online content. The publication operates a subscription portal at subscribe.heraldstaronline.com with various subscription tiers.
2. Print Subscriptions: Traditional print newspaper subscription revenue delivered to homes in the Ohio Valley region.
3. Advertising: Local and regional advertising sold to businesses in the Steubenville and surrounding Ohio Valley area, including display ads, classifieds, and job listings.
4. Classifieds and Job Listings: Revenue from classified advertisements and job listings through both print and digital platforms.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Steubenville Herald-Star is a local newspaper publishing a daily print edition and digital edition covering local, regional, national, and international news, sports, opinion, life features, obituaries, classifieds, and job listings for the Ohio Valley region. The publication distributes content through home-delivered print, the heraldstaronline.com website, an e-edition, and the mynewsonthego mobile app, supported by subscription and advertising revenue.

Product overview

The Steubenville Herald-Star (The Herald Star) is a traditional local newspaper serving the Ohio Valley region. The publication offers news coverage across multiple sections including Local News, Sports, Opinion, Life, Obituaries, Classifieds, and Jobs. The newspaper also provides digital content through its website (heraldstaronline.com) and an e-edition format for digital subscribers. The publication covers local community news, business, Ohio News, National News, International News, and West Virginia News through wire services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Daily Print Newspaper Subscription Daily print newspaper subscription delivered to homes in the Ohio Valley region including Steubenville, Weirton, New Cumberland, Wellsburg, and surrounding communities, covering local news, sports, opinion, life, obituaries, and classifieds.
• Digital Subscription and E-Edition
• mynewsonthego Mobile App
• Classifieds
• Job Listings
• Display Advertising
• Public Notices

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Broad incumbents

• Lee Enterprises: Major US local newspaper group operating mid-market dailies across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Comparable in operating model (subscription + advertising at small-market dailies) and faces identical structural pressures as the Herald Star.
• Gannett (USA TODAY Network local titles): Largest US newspaper publisher operating hundreds of local dailies (e.g., Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch). Comparable as a portfolio operator of small-market local dailies with shared digital platforms, though Gannett's titles are far larger and more digitally mature than the Herald Star.

Regional players

• Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh, PA): Regional newspaper covering the greater Pittsburgh metro area, which abuts the Herald Star's Ohio Valley market. Comparable as a legacy regional daily that has executed a digital transformation, serving as a relevant benchmark for the Herald Star's regional digital strategy.
• The Vindicator (Youngstown, OH): Daily newspaper serving Youngstown, Ohio and the Mahoning Valley. Comparable as a legacy Ohio regional daily facing the same print-decline and digital-pivot dynamics as the Herald Star within an adjacent Ohio geography.
• The Daily Jeffersonian (Cambridge, OH): Small-market Ohio daily serving Guernsey County and the I-70 corridor east of Columbus. Comparable as a rural/regional Ohio daily with similar revenue mix, demographic challenges, and print-to-digital transition profile.

Direct peers

• The Times Leader (Martins Ferry, OH): Daily newspaper serving Belmont County in the Ohio Valley immediately adjacent to the Herald Star's footprint. Directly comparable as a small-market Ohio Valley daily covering overlapping communities with similar revenue mix (print, digital, classifieds).
• Ogden Newspapers (sister titles): Family-owned newspaper group operating dozens of community dailies across the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast, including The Intelligencer. The Herald Star appears to share Ogden's technology infrastructure, making Ogden sister titles the most direct operational comparables.
• The Intelligencer (Wheeling, WV): Daily local newspaper covering Wheeling, WV and the surrounding Ohio Valley panhandle. Directly comparable in geography, scale, and editorial coverage area, and historically part of the same Ogden Newspapers portfolio that publishes the Herald Star.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/HeraldStar
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/herald-star

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Steubenville Herald-Star