Advance Local has made many bold decisions in the past decade — one standout being its decision to end print publication at several of its U.S. local news brands this year.

Members of a INMA study tour visited Advance’s headquarters at 1 World Trade Center in Manhattan this week. The company owns Advance Local, Condé Nast, the Ironman Group, American City Business Journals, and is one of the largest shareholders in Warner Bros., Discovery, Reddit, and Charter Communications.

More than 100 media executives joined the study tour, one of three such tours visiting local 25 companies to kick off the INMA World Congress of News Media. 

Study tour participants had come to hear about its local news brand, Advance Local.

The company is passionate about investing in journalism, said Caroline Harrision, CEO of Advance Local: “We have 55 more journalists on staff than a year ago. So while others are tightening the belt, we are very focused on continuing to invest in our journalism.”

She pointed to recent Pulitzer Prize winners from the company’s Alabama team as proof. 

Advance Local made industry headlines in 2012 when it started ending the seven-day print schedule of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, moving to a three-day-a-week schedule with news available every day on its Web site. It followed that plan throughout its 25 local markets, choosing three- or four-day print publishing schedules based on revenues. 

In 2022, four years after consolidating into one parent company, Advance Local announced its Alabama Media Group would shift to digital-only in February of this year. Subscribers of its four publications in Alabama and Mississippi now receive a daily e-edition called The Lede.

“In 2012, we knew the print runway would have an expiration date,” Harrison said. “We anticipated all-digital eventually. That’s not to say we don’t remain committed to print. We are absolutely committed to print as long as it’s viable and making a contribution. Our business model is based on delivering the news where our audience tells us they want to receive it.”

Currently, revenue is ahead of budget plans in the first quarter of the year. And digital ad revenue has surpassed print revenue for a while.

“Invest the time to build out your print runway model,” advised Pam Siddall, co-president of Advance Local. “If nothing changed, what does the print profitability look like?”

INMA World Congress of News Media continues through May 26.

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