Naptown Scoop ran 728 ads last year. We’ll do about the same this year. And we already have 160 scheduled for 2026. That’s a lot to manage. So like most things that are a lot to manage, a good system is essential.
That’s why in today’s Life of Scoop Plus, I’m doing a comprehensive review of several ad management platforms, including DIY options.
P.S. You’re reading this Life of Scoop Plus post even as an unpaid member. I do this occasionally. There’s a special treat just for you at the bottom of this email.
Newspaper/Magazine Manager
Features: CRM, ad inventory management, ad creative management, billing, proposals/contracts
Price: Variable, billed per user. Per my contract, I can’t share prices publicly but this is an affordable software for a revenue-generating local newsletter.
Minimum users: 1
This is what I use for Naptown Scoop. Apparently 25,000 other publications do as well. Clients appear to be mostly what I’d call “Legacy” publications. Newspaper Manager was built for print but has adapted to include digital products. It also supports selling events and service.
There’s a 99% chance if you’re reading this, it’s too powerful for you. Heck, it’s too powerful for me. I definitely use less than 10% of its capabilities. But the ones I use are essential for my business.
P.S. Newspaper Manager and Magazine Manager are the same product with different names.
What I like
Reporting. NM gives you tons of different ways to see how your business is performing.
CRM features. Operating without a CRM is like trying to win a race wearing a blindfold.
Contracts, proposals, and orders in the same place. This is a good seamless process.
Stripe integration. They have several other billing integrations. This is one of NM’s strongest areas.
Billed per user.
What I don’t like
Learning curve. This is not a simple software. You get a helpful consultant for setup. Which is good. Because there’s a lot to learn.
Not user friendly. Your consultant will set you up well. Making changes after they’re gone is difficult and additional consulting time is pricey.
No client analytics. NM doesn’t integrate with beehiiv (or any publishing platform for that matter) to provide automated analytics for clients. This leads to a seriously manual process.
No drag and drop. Need to switch an ad from one to another? That’ll be at least 17 clicks (possible a slight exaggeration. But only slight)
Not sexy. This isn’t one of those new looking web apps. No curved lines, bright colors, or drop shadows here.
Ad creative management blows. We dislike it so much that we just use Google Docs and Drive to store creative until publishing.
Customer portal. None of our customers can figure out how to use it. I don’t even know.
Who Newspaper Manager is for
You take your local newsletter seriously and plan to sell or are selling a lot of ads. Ads are your #1 revenue channel. You’re tech savvy and learn fast.
Customers include: RV News, Greenville Business Magazine (SC), Specialty Crop Grower, Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine.
You’ve probably never heard of those. Young, digital-first companies like Naptown Scoop are probably the minority of Newspaper Manager’s customers. That said, there’s no denying this is a powerful software that revolutionized Naptown Scoop’s sales process.
Sponsy
Features: CRM, ad inventory management, ad creative management, storefront
Price: Starts at $79/month. Billed on usage (# of ads per month)
Minimum users: 1
What I like
Sexy. Sponsy was founded in 2022 and the UI looks like it (in a good way).
Many many integrations. beehiiv, Kit, and lots more
Easy creative storage. Click an ad on the calendar and make changes. Easy as pie. Customers can even do it using the portal.
Drag and drop. Need to swap ad dates? Click and drag.
Automations. VAs are good. Automations are better.
Integrated client reporting. This is an elite feature. You can even automate the reports.
Media library for customers. Since you’re storing creative inside of Sponsy, it’s helpful to have a media library.
What I don’t like
Reporting. I haven’t been inside a live Sponsy account for a few months but from what I remember, my Newspaper Manager reports ran circles around Sponsy.
Deals feature requires upgraded subscription. Newspaper Manager wins here because there are no tiers. Sponsy Deals is pretty much essential for any serious local newsletter.
Payments and invoices. There’s a basic Stripe integration but Newspaper Manager wins here.
Usage based pricing. Sponsy bills based on how many ads you run per month, not how many users are on your team. For me (with 3 team members), Sponsy isn’t that much more expensive than Newspaper Manager. But for a solo operator, usage-based pricing stings.
Who Sponsy is for
Newsletter first publishers who value automations, integrated reporting, and a great UI. I feel ridiculous loving Sponsy for their UI but it’s just so much nicer looking than Newspaper Manager.
Customers: CRE Daily, TLDR, Stacked Marketer, DTC
Nearly all of Sponsy’s customers are relatively new, newsletter-first (or at least newsletter-heavy) media companies.
If I like Sponsy so much why haven’t I switched?
It wouldn’t be that much more expensive. Automated client reporting rocks. And they now have some of the billing features I wanted when choosing between them and Newspaper Manager several years ago. Sounds like I should switch, right?
Nope.
If you’ve ever managed a software migration, you’ll understand. It is a gigantic pain in the ass. Sponsy’s even offered custom support to handle the migration. I still haven’t done it.
I’d also have to teach my team a new software. It’s just not a headache I want right now.
That said. I was weighing Newspaper Manager against Sponsy in early 2023. Sponsy had just gotten their first customer. Newspaper Manager had been around for 20 years. It wasn’t a fair fight.
If I were starting over again (which I basically am with all of my local newsletter launch clients), I’d choose Sponsy. No questions asked. Automated integrated reporting is elite. Sponsy’s so much more user-friendly than Newspaper Manager. And the customer portal is at least 8 times better. Probably more.
Ad Orbit
Features: CRM, proposals and contracts, ad management and operations, billing, customer portal
Price: Starting at $72 per user, per month
Minimum users: 5
Full disclosure: I’ve never used Ad Orbit. It looks like Newspaper Manager with more automations like Sponsy. I’m sure it’s a powerful software. However, with a minimum user count of 5, it’s clearly not built for solo local newsletter operators or even those with a small team.
Naptown Scoop wouldn’t qualify for it and we’re five years old doing hundreds of thousands in revenue.
Who this is for
Big publishing companies doing serious business. Customers are mostly trade magazine business publishers with half a dozen or more publications.
Builder beware: Beehiiv direct sponsorships
Beehiiv offers integrated direct sponsorship management with their top-level max plan. I’ve put my hands on it and honestly, it’s not bad. I don’t expect it will ever have the functionality of a true dedicated program like Sponsy or Newspaper Manager. Unless beehiiv buys Sponsy. They bought Typedream then released a killer website builder.
However, I don’t know of any way to export this data out of beehiiv. So if you ever do decide to use a dedicated program, I’m not sure your migration would go smoothly.
DIY
Features: Up to you
Price: Starts at free
Minimum users: N/A
While a program like Sponsy is certainly more “professional” and has lots of features a DIY solution won’t, cashflow is king. Especially in the early days. I ran with a DIY solution (Notion with the free plan) for 2.5 years before switching to Newspaper Manager.
I recommend building on Google Sheets or Notion. Both are easy to export and have all the features you need to get started.
Here’s my advice for doing it yourself.
Most critical: Make sure your DIY system can be exported (probably as a CSV file). This is absolutely essential for a smooth migration when you decide it’s time for a “proper” software. Make sure it’s a true database or spreadsheet to be safe here. No Apple notes.
Control inventory. You do not want to promise ads clients can’t have. Before Newspaper Manager, I double sold so many dates. You can achieve this with data validation if using Google Sheets or calendar views in Notion.
Keep ad management and creative management in the same place. You can do this easy enough in Google Sheets (using Google Drive) and very easily in Notion.
Who DIY is for
Early stage creators looking to stretch every dollar.
Special treat: I built you something
Notion is far superior to Google Sheets for a DIY ad manager. But it’s also intimidating. So I built one for you. It’s based on the (many) mistakes I made with my DIY manager and Newspaper Manager’s configuration.
I can’t promise a smooth migration because I haven’t tested it. But the data softwares like Newspaper Manager and Sponsy require is all there in exportable databases.
But I’m not selling it. Not exactly. All Life of Scoop Plus members with an annual plan get the advertising manager included. Similar Notion templates sell for well over what that costs so I think it’s a good deal. And you still get the entire year of emails just like these and all the other Life of Scoop Plus exclusives.
Note: You must get an annual plan to receive the ad manager. I’ll start sending access tomorrow morning (Saturday).
How can I help you?
I can get you 20% off beehiiv, my favorite place to send local newsletters