In the past we would purchase a Tor Star add and even tried some other online apt rental services…but it was Craigslist that worked.
It’s free for almost all cities (I think there are a handful of cities they charge landlords - mostly to get rid of the spammers) and adding numerous pix helps us differentiate the property from others out there.

As we receive a large number of great candidates every time, I see no reason to list an apt anywhere else.

Before we met I had a look at their sites and they weren’t bad - lots of local content, and you could book classified ads online. Which was more than you could say for the magazine titles I’d worked with before.

But then it occurred to me what the USP of regional newspapers is - locality. You don’t want to advertise your pram to people 500 miles away if you want them to pick it up.

Unfortunately for regional newspapers, locality online is just a zip/post code search away…

So when I introduced him to Craigslist and all the others (eg Oodle and Gum Tree) he was understandibly concerned. He wanted to know what he could do. I could not give him an answer - there was certainly no silver bullet - and any meaningful approach he took would seriously impact his revenue in the short to medium term.

Two months later I read in the industry press that he had decided to retire early to spend more time with his family.

He quit while he was ahead.

Bottom line, newspapers need an entirely new revenue model. And/or they need to be able to operate with practically no costs…