Forward to: Strategy Team

Competitor Analysis
Workflows

Ten agent workflows for the strategy team — regional competitor monitoring, market share intelligence, strategic move detection, digital presence benchmarking, competitor hiring analysis, product launch tracking, partnership ecosystem mapping, content velocity comparison, audience migration detection, and competitive threat scoring — all powered by domain intelligence across 100M+ domains.

1Regional Competitor Monitoring

AI agent continuously monitors all competitor publishers in each AdvanceLocal market by tracking /blog velocity, /careers changes, /products launches, and PageRank trajectory — providing a real-time competitive dashboard.

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Track Competitor Digital Health
/blog /careers /products OpenPageRank IAB Categories Domain Ages
COMPETITOR DASHBOARD — ALL MARKETS ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ NJ MARKET COMPETITORS: Competitor PageRank Δ QoQ Blog/Day Hiring Products Threat northjersey.com 6.8 +0.1 52 14 8 MODERATE patch.com (NJ) 7.4 +0.3 124 18 12 HIGH nytimes.com (NJ) 9.2 +0.1 12 2 4 MODERATE tapinto.net 5.2 +0.4 34 8 6 RISING CLEVELAND MARKET COMPETITORS: news5cleveland.com 6.1 0.0 34 6 5 STABLE ideastream.org 5.4 +0.2 18 4 3 MODERATE crainscleveland.com 5.8 +0.1 8 2 2 LOW HIGHEST THREAT: patch.com — PageRank rising (+0.3), 124 posts/day, 18 new hires Patch is the most aggressive competitor across all AdvanceLocal markets
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Generate Competitive Intelligence Briefing
Domain Signal
patch.com — PageRank grew +0.3 QoQ (fastest in market), publishing 124 posts/day (60% more than NJ.com), hired 18 new editorial roles in NJ. /products page shows 3 new features: hyperlocal newsletters, event calendar, and community boards. /about page updated to "200+ NJ communities." Patch is executing a comprehensive market-share grab across all AdvanceLocal NJ communities with superior hyperlocal velocity.
HIGHEST THREAT — Patch outpacing NJ.com on velocity, hiring, and hyperlocal features
Sector Signal
Regional News — Hyperlocal Disruption: Across all AdvanceLocal markets, hyperlocal competitors (Patch, TAPinto, local Substack newsletters) are growing PageRank 2.3x faster than metro-level publishers. Domain intelligence shows 156 new hyperlocal news domains registered in AdvanceLocal markets in the past 6 months. The competitive landscape is shifting from metro-level competition to community-level competition — and hyperlocal specialists are winning.
INDUSTRY SHIFT — Hyperlocal growing 2.3x faster than metro publishers across all markets

2Market Share Intelligence

AI agent estimates digital market share across AdvanceLocal markets by comparing PageRank trajectories, content volume, and domain authority among all news publishers in each metro area.

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Calculate Market Share Estimates
/blog /about OpenPageRank IAB Categories Personas
DIGITAL MARKET SHARE — NJ NEWS MARKET ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ ESTIMATED MARKET SHARE (based on PageRank + content volume + authority): Publisher Share Δ YoY Trend nj.com 28.4% -2.1% DECLINING patch.com (NJ) 18.2% +4.8% GROWING northjersey.com 14.6% +0.3% STABLE nytimes.com (NJ) 12.8% +1.2% GROWING tapinto.net 8.4% +3.1% GROWING NJ Substack writers 5.2% +2.8% GROWING Others 12.4% -10.1% FRAGMENTED KEY INSIGHT: NJ.com still leads but lost 2.1% share to Patch (+4.8%) and TAPinto (+3.1%) Combined hyperlocal share (Patch + TAPinto + Substack) = 31.8%, up from 21.1% a year ago Hyperlocal competitors now EXCEED NJ.com's market share combined
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Project Market Share Trajectory
Company Signal
NJ.com — Market Position at Risk: NJ.com still leads the NJ market at 28.4% share but is declining (-2.1% YoY). Combined hyperlocal competitors (Patch + TAPinto + Substack) now hold 31.8% — exceeding NJ.com for the first time. If current trends continue, Patch alone will surpass NJ.com in market share within 18 months. Strategic response required: hyperlocal content investment, newsletter expansion, and community engagement features.
SHARE EROSION — Hyperlocal competitors combined now exceed NJ.com, 18-month crossover risk

3Strategic Move Detection

AI agent detects strategic moves by competitors — new product launches, market expansions, executive hires, and partnership formations — by monitoring changes across all 20 page types on competitor domains.

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Monitor Competitor Strategic Signals
/products /careers /partners /leadership /press OpenPageRank
STRATEGIC MOVE DETECTOR — FEB 2026 ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ COMPETITOR STRATEGIC MOVES DETECTED: patch.comMAJOR STRATEGIC MOVE /products: Launched "Patch Pro" premium subscription tier /pricing: $4.99/month for ad-free + exclusive local content /careers: 6 "subscription product" roles posted /partners: Added Stripe as payment partner /leadership: New VP of Consumer Revenue hired (ex-NYT) THREAT: Patch entering subscription market — direct competition with NJ.com paywall tapinto.netEXPANSION SIGNAL /about: Updated to "covering 90+ communities" (was 72) /careers: 12 new "community editor" roles (25% team expansion) /partners: Added Google News Initiative partnership /press: "$3M Series A funding announced" THREAT: Funded expansion into more NJ communities axios.comMARKET ENTRY /products: "Axios Local — New Jersey" page detected /careers: 4 NJ reporter roles posted /blog: 3 NJ-focused articles published as market test THREAT: National player entering NJ local news market
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Assess Strategic Impact
PATCH SUBSCRIPTION LAUNCH TIMELINE
Dec 2025 patch.com: /careers — VP Consumer Revenue posting appeared. First signal of subscription strategy.
Jan 2026 patch.com: /partners — Stripe integration added. /leadership: VP Consumer Revenue hired (ex-NYT subscription team). /careers: 3 "subscription product manager" roles.
Feb 2026 patch.com: /products — "Patch Pro" launched at $4.99/month. /pricing page live. /blog: Launch announcement post. Full subscription product live — direct NJ.com paywall competitor.
Domain Signal
patch.com — Subscription Launch: Domain intelligence detected the entire Patch subscription strategy arc: VP hire (Dec 2025) to Stripe integration (Jan 2026) to product launch (Feb 2026). The hire of an ex-NYT subscription VP signals serious investment in consumer revenue. At $4.99/month, Patch Pro is positioned below most NJ.com subscription tiers — potential to capture price-sensitive subscribers. AdvanceLocal should evaluate competitive pricing response and differentiation strategy.
STRATEGIC THREAT — Patch subscription product directly competes with NJ.com paywall

4Digital Presence Benchmarking

AI agent benchmarks AdvanceLocal's digital presence against competitors across all 20 page types — identifying which page types competitors have that AdvanceLocal lacks, and vice versa.

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Compare Page Type Coverage
/pricing /products /events /careers OpenPageRank
DIGITAL PRESENCE BENCHMARK — PAGE TYPES ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ Page Type NJ.com Patch northjersey nytimes(NJ) tapinto /blog Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes /pricing Yes Yes Yes Yes No /careers Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes /events No Yes No Yes Yes /products Basic Rich Basic Rich Basic /partners No Yes No Yes No /api No No No Yes No /login Yes Yes Yes Yes No /support Yes Yes Basic Yes Basic /case-studies No Yes No Yes No NJ.com MISSING: /events, /partners, /api, /case-studies Patch has all of these — giving advertisers and partners more reasons to engage
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Recommend Digital Presence Investments
Company Signal
NJ.com — Digital Gaps: NJ.com is missing 4 page types that competitors have: /events (community calendar), /partners (advertiser/partner ecosystem), /case-studies (advertiser success stories), and /api (developer access). Patch has all 4, giving it a more complete digital presence. Priority: launch /events page (community calendar) — this is the most-requested feature by local readers and the foundation of Patch's community engagement strategy.
DIGITAL GAPS — 4 missing page types that competitors leverage for engagement

5Competitor Hiring Analysis

AI agent tracks competitor /careers pages to detect hiring patterns that reveal strategic direction — new beat reporters, technology hires, sales team expansion, and leadership changes that signal competitive moves.

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Analyze Competitor Hiring Patterns
/careers /leadership /about IAB Categories OpenPageRank
COMPETITOR HIRING INTELLIGENCE — FEB 2026 ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ patch.com — 18 NJ hires this quarter Editorial: 8 community editors, 2 senior editors Product: 3 subscription product managers, 1 events lead Sales: 4 NJ ad sales reps SIGNAL: Investing in editorial, subscription, AND sales — full offensive tapinto.net — 12 hires (all community editors) Editorial: 12 new community editors for new NJ towns SIGNAL: Pure coverage expansion — adding 18 new communities axios.com — 4 NJ-specific hires Editorial: 2 NJ reporters, 1 NJ newsletter editor Sales: 1 NJ advertising director SIGNAL: Market entry — testing NJ local model with small team northjersey.com — 14 hires (steady state) Editorial: 8 reporters | Sales: 4 reps | Tech: 2 engineers SIGNAL: Maintaining current level — no strategic pivot detected
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Map Competitor Strategic Intent
Domain Signal
axios.com — 4 NJ-specific hires detected on /careers page: 2 reporters, 1 newsletter editor, 1 ad director. This is the classic Axios Local market entry pattern (seen in 28 previous city launches). Domain intelligence from other Axios Local markets shows they typically launch with 4-person teams, grow to 8-12 within 6 months, and reach profitability in 12-18 months. Axios NJ would be a premium competitor targeting NJ.com's highest-value audience segment (professionals, homeowners).
NEW ENTRANT — Axios NJ market entry follows proven 28-city expansion playbook

6Product Launch Tracking

AI agent detects competitor product launches by monitoring /products, /pricing, and /blog pages — identifying new features, tools, and services that competitors are introducing to capture audience and advertiser attention.

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Track Competitor Product Changes
/products /pricing /blog /press OpenPageRank
COMPETITOR PRODUCT TRACKER — Q1 2026 ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ NEW COMPETITOR PRODUCTS DETECTED: patch.com /products: "Patch Pro" premium subscription ($4.99/mo) /products: "Patch Events" community calendar tool /products: "Patch Deals" local business coupon section /pricing: Updated ad rate card with new "sponsored events" package tapinto.net /products: "TAPinto Connect" community discussion forums /products: "TAPinto Advertise" self-service ad platform northjersey.com /products: "Bergen Insider" premium newsletter ($2.99/mo) NJ.com HAS NOT LAUNCHED: No community calendar/events tool No community discussion forums No local deals/coupons section No self-service ad platform for SMBs
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Prioritize Product Response
Company Signal
AdvanceLocal — Product Gap: Competitors have launched 7 new products in Q1 2026 while NJ.com has launched none. Most critical gap: community events calendar (Patch has it, TAPinto has it, NJ.com does not). Events pages drive 23% of hyperlocal engagement. Second priority: self-service ad platform for SMBs (TAPinto launched one, making it easier for small businesses to advertise without sales team contact). These product gaps are contributing to the market share erosion.
PRODUCT GAP — 0 launches vs competitors' 7, community events calendar most critical

7Partnership Ecosystem Mapping

AI agent maps competitor partnership ecosystems by analyzing /partners pages — identifying which technology partners, content partners, and advertising networks competitors use, revealing potential partnership opportunities for AdvanceLocal.

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Analyze Competitor Partner Networks
/partners /about /press IAB Categories OpenPageRank
COMPETITOR PARTNERSHIP MAP ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ patch.com /partners: Tech: WordPress VIP, Stripe, Google News Initiative, Mailchimp Content: AP, Reuters, Weather.com Ad Tech: Google AdX, Amazon TAM, PubMatic Total: 23 partners listed nytimes.com /partners: Tech: Fastly, Snowflake, Google Cloud Content: Wirecutter, The Athletic, Audm Ad Tech: Custom ad stack Total: 45+ partners tapinto.net /partners: Tech: Google News Initiative, Meta Journalism Project Content: NJ Education Association, NJ League of Municipalities Total: 8 partners (but includes government/civic groups) AdvanceLocal MISSING PARTNERSHIPS: No Google News Initiative partnership (Patch and TAPinto have it) No civic organization partnerships (TAPinto leveraging these) No weather data partnership (Patch has Weather.com)
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Identify Partnership Opportunities
Company Signal
AdvanceLocal — Partnership Gaps: Both Patch and TAPinto have Google News Initiative partnerships providing funding and technology support. TAPinto's civic organization partnerships (NJ Education Association, NJ League of Municipalities) give them exclusive access to government data and community event feeds. AdvanceLocal should pursue GNI partnership (potential $500K+ in funding) and replicate TAPinto's civic partnership strategy across all markets.
PARTNERSHIP GAPS — GNI and civic partnerships would strengthen competitive position

8Content Velocity Comparison

AI agent compares content production rates across competitors to identify speed advantages and gaps — measuring how quickly competitors cover breaking stories, trending topics, and seasonal content.

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Compare Content Speed Metrics
/blog /press IAB Categories OpenPageRank
CONTENT VELOCITY COMPARISON — NJ MARKET ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ BREAKING NEWS RESPONSE TIME (avg minutes to first publish): Publisher Avg Response Best Category Worst Category nj.com 12 min Sports (8 min) Education (45 min) patch.com 35 min Crime (15 min) Politics (90 min) northjersey.com 18 min Politics (12 min) Sports (30 min) nytimes.com (NJ) 60 min Politics (20 min) Local (180 min) CONTENT DEPTH COMPARISON (avg word count): nytimes.com: 1,200 words (deep but slow) nj.com: 650 words (fast but shallow) northjersey.com: 580 words patch.com: 320 words (fastest but shallowest) NJ.com ADVANTAGE: Fastest breaking news (12 min avg) NJ.com WEAKNESS: Depth gap vs. NYT (650 vs 1,200 words)
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Optimize Speed-Depth Balance
Company Signal
NJ.com — Speed vs Depth: NJ.com leads on breaking news speed (12 min avg) but trails NYT on depth (650 vs 1,200 words). Domain intelligence shows that service journalism (guides, analysis) requires depth to rank in search and drive subscriptions, while breaking news requires speed. Recommended: maintain speed advantage on breaking news but invest in depth for 5-10 key service journalism topics that drive the highest subscription conversion (8.2% for deep guides vs 2.4% for standard articles).
SPEED LEADER — Maintain breaking speed, invest in depth for service journalism

9Audience Migration Detection

AI agent detects audience migration between publishers by analyzing referral domain patterns and PageRank shifts — identifying when AdvanceLocal is losing audience to specific competitors and why.

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Track Audience Flow Between Publishers
/blog /about Personas OpenPageRank IAB Categories
AUDIENCE MIGRATION ANALYSIS — NJ MARKET ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ AUDIENCE FLOW (estimated from referral domain shifts): From NJ.com → patch.com: -45K monthly readers Topics losing: Hyperlocal community news, events, school board coverage Persona: "NJ Homeowner" and "Shore Local" — community-focused readers From NJ.com → tapinto.net: -18K monthly readers Topics losing: Town-specific news, community events Persona: "NJ Homeowner" — suburban community readers From NJ.com → substack.com (NJ writers): -12K monthly readers Topics losing: Political analysis, opinion, investigative Persona: "NJ Commuter" — information-seeking professionals From competitors → NJ.com: +23K monthly readers Topics gaining: Sports, breaking news, weather Persona: "Sports Fan" — NJ.com still dominant in sports NET MIGRATION: -52K monthly readers (losing more than gaining)
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Identify Migration Causes & Countermeasures
Company Signal
NJ.com — Audience Leakage: Net audience migration is -52K monthly readers, primarily to hyperlocal competitors (Patch, TAPinto) in community news topics. The "NJ Homeowner" persona — AdvanceLocal's highest-value audience segment for advertising — is migrating to competitors that offer town-specific coverage, community calendars, and school board meeting reports. Countermeasure: launch hyperlocal community verticals for top 20 NJ towns to recapture migrating readers.
AUDIENCE LOSS — 52K/month net migration, highest-value personas leaving for hyperlocal

10Competitive Threat Scoring

AI agent generates a composite competitive threat score for each competitor by weighting PageRank trajectory, hiring velocity, product launches, partnership formations, and market share trajectory — providing a single metric for strategic planning.

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Calculate Composite Threat Scores
/blog /careers /products /partners OpenPageRank Domain Ages
COMPETITIVE THREAT SCORECARD — ALL MARKETS ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ Competitor Threat PR Trend Hiring Products Partners Share Trend patch.com 94 +0.3 18 3 new 23 +4.8% axios.com (NJ) 72 +0.1 4 1 new 8 NEW tapinto.net 68 +0.4 12 2 new 8 +3.1% northjersey.com 45 +0.1 14 0 new 4 +0.3% nytimes.com (NJ) 38 +0.1 2 0 new 45 +1.2% news5cleveland.com 32 0.0 6 0 new 3 0.0% THREAT LEVEL TIERS: CRITICAL (80+): patch.com — requires immediate strategic response HIGH (60-79): axios.com, tapinto.net — monitor closely, prepare defenses MODERATE (40-59): northjersey.com — maintain competitive awareness LOW (<40): nytimes.com (NJ), local TV — limited direct threat
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Generate Strategic Response Plan

COMPETITIVE STRATEGY BRIEF — Q2 2026

FOR: AdvanceLocal Executive Team ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ CRITICAL THREAT: patch.com (Score: 94) Patch is the only CRITICAL-level competitor across all AdvanceLocal markets. They are outpacing NJ.com on: content velocity, product launches, hiring, and market share growth. They launched a subscription product (Patch Pro) that directly competes with NJ.com's paywall. RECOMMENDED STRATEGIC RESPONSE: 1. HYPERLOCAL OFFENSIVE (Priority 1 — $200K investment) Launch 20 town-specific community pages with dedicated content Add community events calendar (NJ.com's biggest missing feature) Deploy 10 community reporter roles across top NJ towns 2. PRODUCT ACCELERATION (Priority 2 — $150K investment) Launch 5 interactive tools (tax calculator, school finder, etc.) Build self-service SMB ad platform (counter TAPinto) Expand newsletter portfolio from 8 to 30+ 3. PARTNERSHIP EXPANSION (Priority 3 — $50K investment) Secure Google News Initiative partnership Build civic organization partnerships in all markets Establish weather data partnership TIMELINE: Q2-Q3 2026 TOTAL INVESTMENT: $400K EXPECTED IMPACT: Stabilize market share, recapture 30K monthly readers
Company Signal
AdvanceLocal — Strategic Imperative: Domain intelligence provides a clear picture: Patch is the existential competitive threat across all markets, executing on content, product, and subscription simultaneously. AdvanceLocal's advantages — brand authority (PageRank 7.6), breaking news speed (12 min), and network scale (6 markets) — are being eroded by hyperlocal velocity. The $400K strategic response addresses the three most critical gaps: hyperlocal content, product features, and partnerships. Without action, NJ.com risks losing market leadership to Patch within 18 months.
STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE — $400K investment needed to defend market position
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