How do you plan advertising on local news sites in the US and Canada?
Part of Fair publisher planning
The short answer
Plan advertising on local news sites by starting from the communities in the brief, not from a list of big brands. Use a written definition of local news, confirm each site publishes original local reporting, check who sells its ad space, and expect fewer, smaller sites. In both countries the pool is shrinking, so verify every outlet is still publishing.
Key takeaways
- Medill's 2026 report counts 238 US news desert counties, and the Local News Map counts 640 Canadian local outlets closed since 2008, so last year's list can be out of date.
- Public definitions from the Local News Map, the Canada Revenue Agency and LION Publishers give planners a test they can apply and defend.
- Community papers, local TV sites, digital startups and network run sites sell their space in different ways, so check the selling path outlet by outlet.
- Build the list from the brief's towns and counties, then read recent stories to confirm each site still covers them.
What counts as a local news site in a media plan?
A local news site is defined by what it covers, not by its size or its domain. The buyer's test is whether the site regularly publishes its own reporting about a defined place. Several public bodies have written that test down, and borrowing one saves a planner from inventing a definition a client may later challenge.
Definition
- Local news organization (Local News Map)
- The Local News Map project at Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of British Columbia defines it as an outlet that stays independent from those it covers, is committed to accuracy and transparency, and is devoted mainly to timely, originally produced news about people, places, issues and events in a defined geographic area.
| Source | Core test in the source's terms | How to use it in a plan |
|---|---|---|
| Local News Map (Canada) | Originally produced news about a defined geographic area, independent from those it covers | A plain test for any outlet type: newspaper, radio, TV or digital |
| Canada Revenue Agency, qualified Canadian journalism organization | Original news content on an ongoing basis, focused on general interest and current events, at least two arm's length journalists, not a government body | A legal designation for Canadian outlets; useful when a client wants a verifiable bar |
| LION Publishers membership criteria (US and Canada) | Most content is original local news for a U.S. or Canadian audience, primarily digital, privately owned, consistently bylined, with a public corrections policy | A checklist for independent digital outlets and newsletters |
The CRA guidance (opens in a new tab) adds that an organization cannot be significantly engaged, generally 20 percent or more, in content promoting an organization or its members. That clause screens out community sites that are really an association newsletter.
How much local news inventory is left in the United States and Canada?
Less every year, and the losses are concentrated in small places. The Medill State of Local News 2026 report (opens in a new tab), released October 13, 2026, counts 238 US news desert counties, up 26 in a year. It found that 170 newspapers shut or merged, most of them in rural areas, and that nearly 1,500 more counties have only one local news source left, leaving 47 million Americans with limited to no access to local news.
Canada shows the same pattern. The Local News Map data report of October 1, 2026 (opens in a new tab) records 640 local news outlets closed in 407 communities since 2008, 466 of them community newspapers that publish fewer than five times a week. Over the same period 453 outlets launched, and 167 of those later closed. Statistics Canada (opens in a new tab) reports that newspaper publishers' advertising sales, their largest source of revenue, fell 26.1 percent from 2022 to $722.8 million in 2024.
| Measure | Figure | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| US news desert counties | 238, up 26 in one year | Medill, 2026 report |
| US newspapers shut or merged | 170 in the past year, most in rural areas | Medill, 2026 report |
| US local news startups | 75 digital only and print startups in the past year | Medill, 2026 report |
| Canadian local outlets closed | 640 in 407 communities | Local News Map, 2008 to October 1, 2026 |
| Canadian outlets launched | 453, of which 167 later closed | Local News Map, 2008 to October 1, 2026 |
| Canadian newspaper advertising sales | $722.8 million, down 26.1 percent from 2022 | Statistics Canada, 2024 |
How do different kinds of local outlets sell their ad space?
Local news is not one kind of inventory. A weekly paper's website, a TV station's news site and a two person digital startup reach buyers through different paths, and a plan that treats them alike will either miss good outlets or include ones it cannot buy. Medill's 2026 report adds a reason to check ownership: three quarters of the 678 commercial TV newsrooms it counted are owned by the 10 largest broadcasting chains.
| Outlet type | What can shape its selling path | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Community newspaper website | May be owned by a regional group or sold through an intermediary | Whether ads.txt lists a direct seller, and whether sister papers share one ad account |
| Local TV station news site | May be part of a broadcasting group | Whether local stories are produced in the market or moved to a hub elsewhere |
| Digital only startup or newsletter | Small sales teams; some sell sponsorships instead of programmatic display | Whether the site carries programmatic ads at all, and its posting frequency |
| Site in a national network of local sites | Shared templates and one ad stack across many towns | Bylines, local sourcing and how much copy repeats across the network's towns |
The IAB Tech Lab ads.txt specification (opens in a new tab) lets a site list the companies allowed to sell its space and mark each one DIRECT or RESELLER. A reseller entry is a fact to record, not a reason on its own to drop a local site. The supply path guide covers the matching sellers.json check.
How do you build a local news list for a specific market?
Six steps from a brief's geography to a local news list
- List the communities. Turn the brief's market into named towns, counties or census areas, including small ones the client serves but rarely mentions.
- Check what has closed. Look each community up on the Local News Map (opens in a new tab) in Canada or Medill's state and county data in the US, so the list does not chase outlets that stopped publishing.
- Find the surviving outlets. Search for community papers, station news sites, public broadcasters and digital startups covering each place, and ask local press associations for member lists.
- Read five recent stories per site. Confirm the reporting is local, dated within the last weeks and bylined, and not mostly wire copy or press releases.
- Record the selling path. Note each site's ads.txt entries and sellers, and flag sites with no file for a direct conversation instead of removing them.
- Group shared owners. Sites that share an ad account or analytics code may belong to one owner; decide whether the plan buys them as one group or a few strong titles.
Audience data needs care at this scale. The Chrome UX Report methodology (opens in a new tab) leaves out origins below a popularity threshold it does not disclose, and community sites can fall below it. Treat a missing popularity figure as unknown, and use the outlet's own geography and the stories it publishes as the evidence of local reach.
Which local news sections suit which kind of brief?
A local outlet can publish a mix of civic reporting, sports, weather, business and community notices. Matching the brief to sections, rather than to whole sites, keeps strong outlets in the plan while the client controls the few sections it may want to avoid, through suitability settings set per category.
| Section | Example content | Planning note |
|---|---|---|
| Local government and schools | Council meetings, school boards, budgets, elections | Political tolerance applies; judge civic stories by treatment, not topic |
| Community sports | High school and amateur leagues, local clubs | Broad fit for family, retail and auto briefs |
| Weather and roads | Forecasts, closures, storm updates | Strong fit for seasonal services; severe events may need a tragedy tolerance |
| Business and agriculture | Openings, closures, crop and market reports | Fit for financial, equipment and trade briefs |
| Crime and courts | Police briefs, trials, sentencing | Judge by treatment and severity, not by the section name |
| Obituaries and notices | Death notices, anniversaries, community events | Some clients exclude obituaries; events pages can fit local retail |
How can PlacementGraph surface local news sites for a market?
What does a local news plan look like for a rural brief?
Fictional example
A fictional farm equipment dealer in rural Saskatchewan
A fictional dealer of tractors and grain handling equipment, with stores in six small Saskatchewan towns, asks for an English display plan beside agriculture, weather and community news around those stores. The last list came from a national news bundle with almost no Saskatchewan reporting.
The planner lists the towns and surrounding rural municipalities and checks each on the Local News Map: two weeklies on the old list have closed. Searches turn up surviving weeklies, a regional radio station's news site and a digital outlet covering crop and market news, each read for local bylines and dates.
Three weeklies share one ad account and template under a regional owner, so the team keeps the two with the most local reporting. One digital outlet has no ads.txt file and goes to a direct sponsorship talk. Obituaries are excluded at the client's request; weather and harvest coverage stays.
What should a local news plan checklist cover before launch?
Local news plan checklist
- The plan names the communities it serves, not only the province, state or country.
- Every outlet on the list published dated local stories in recent weeks.
- The definition of local news used for the plan is written down and shared with the client.
- Closed or merged outlets from earlier lists were removed after checking the Local News Map or Medill data.
- Each site's ads.txt sellers were recorded, and sites without a file were routed to a direct conversation.
- Section exclusions such as obituaries were set in suitability settings, not by removing whole outlets.
- French language outlets were included wherever the Canadian brief allows French.
For the wider principles behind this list, including how to keep independent outlets from being filtered out by size, see the fair publisher planning hub.
Frequently asked questions
Do local news sites have enough scale for a programmatic campaign?
A single small outlet may not, so a local plan can get its scale by combining outlets across a region. Pacing should allow for small sites that fill slowly, and a curated deal or a direct buy can bundle several outlets so the campaign never depends on a single one.
Can several local news sites be bought through one private marketplace deal?
Yes, if they sell through the same exchange. A curated deal can be limited to a chosen list of domains, so a regional set of local outlets can sit in one deal ID. Sites sold only through other exchanges need their own deal or a direct buy. The curated deals guide covers the setup.
Are sites in national networks of local news sites real local news?
Some are and some are not, so judge each town's site on its own. Read whether stories carry local bylines and local sources, and how much copy repeats word for word across the network's towns. A network site that reports on its town meets the definition; one that fills a local template with generic copy does not.
Should French language community papers be in a Canadian local news plan?
Wherever the brief allows French, yes. Most of the 32 markers added in the Local News Map's October 2026 update concerned Quebec outlets, many of them French language community papers and digital sites. A plan built only from English searches misses that part of the market, so have a French reader review those outlets.
Sources
- Local news deserts skyrocket as newspaper closures escalate, even as startups emerge, Medill study shows (opens in a new tab)Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, October 13, 2026
- The State of Local News 2026 (opens in a new tab)Medill Local News Initiative, Northwestern University
- Local News Map Data: October 1, 2026 (opens in a new tab)Local News Research Project, Toronto Metropolitan University, and SpICE Lab, University of British Columbia
- The Weekly Review, November 10 to 14, 2025 (Newspaper publishers, 2024) (opens in a new tab)Statistics Canada
- Guidance on the income tax measures to support journalism (opens in a new tab)Canada Revenue Agency
- LION Membership Criteria (opens in a new tab)LION Publishers
- ads.txt (Authorized Digital Sellers) (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- CrUX methodology (opens in a new tab)Google Chrome for Developers
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.