Nate Hatch, President of Deseret Digital Media
May 7, 2025 Case no. 27
Advertising
How Deseret Digital Media build a leading market position in local advertising
Some newspaper companies has begun generating enough digital advertising growth to offset declines in their legacy media businesses. One example of sucha media company is Deseret News based in Salt Lake City in the state of Utah in the US. Except for the usual broad portfolio of display, pre-roll video, and in creating and distributing content for customers in native formats and media agency products, Deseret has also been successful in building successful market places, thanks to early innovation and positioning under their local radio and tv brand KSL.com. The three pillars of the ad business of Deseret today are news and transaction revenue in classifieds and cars. Important has been an effective sales organisation and a "laser focus" on data.
Presented by Nate Hatch, President of Deseret Digital Media
By Niklas Jonason
Deseret Digital Media and KSL.com
- Actionable ideas in short
A new brand as a base for disruption and transformation. Early on, many years ago, the mother company decided to use the groups radio and tv-brand, KSL.com, and a new separate company for positioning of its main digital channel including digital classifieds with pricing and packaging competitive to Craigslist that took over classifieds in most other US states at this early time. Today many years later, the marketplaces cars and transactions are the group's most important ad revenue sources next to display and native ads on news properties. This early move allowed alignment in focus and investments for digital and an early focus on the quality of talent and experience in digital.
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A strong product portfolio in combination with a strong and well managed sales force.
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Clear and crisp presentation of benefits for employers on the career page of the group. .Se the screen dump from the web site of Deseret Digital Media below. We think it is an inspiring example of how to openly present the benefits you get when joining DDM.
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Article Summary
Deseret Digital Media (DDM), operating primarily under the KSL.com brand, has successfully transformed itself into a leading player in the local advertising market in Utah and surrounding states. Combining a legacy media background with a strategic digital-first approach, DDM has built robust marketplaces for cars and classifieds, leveraged data to drive sales, and focused heavily on user needs and local engagement. Its approach integrates innovation, targeted advertising, and a hyperlocal content strategy that has positioned it as one of the most successful advertising operations in the U.S. regional media landscape.
Background of Deseret Media and KSL.com
Deseret Digital Media DDM, with 145 employees. is a digital arm of Deseret Management Corporation, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has its headquarters in Salt Lake City and includes properties such as KSL.com, the newspaper and news site Deseret News founded in 1850, Utah.com, and Pinpoint—a growing audio ad tech platform. The company's digital transformation began about 15 years ago when it spun off its dot-com and app units into DDM to respond to the rise of digital disruption. KSL.com, now Utah's leading news and classifieds platform, evolved from a traditional radio/TV brand into a central hub for news, marketplaces, and community connection. Deseret Digital Media has a turnover of about $ 35 m. DDM also operate in Idaho and in Arizona and the surrounding states.
About the Speaker, Nate Hatch
Nate Hatch is the President of Deseret Digital Media and a technology veteran with deep experience across several sectors and tech companies. A father of seven and grandfather to ten, Hatch brings both technical expertise and strategic vision to DDM. He attributes the company's success to a commitment to innovation, responsiveness to disruption, and a team culture focused on ownership and accountability.
About Disruption
The digital media landscape has undergone dramatic change, driven by disruptive innovation over the last 25 years. The forces of disruption have challenged traditional business models and required media companies like Deseret Digital Media to rethink operations, priorities, and customer engagement strategies. In an age of fragmented attention and fast-evolving technology, adapting to this disruption is not optional—it's essential for survival and growth.
Harvard-professor Clayton Christensen, 1952-2020, whose theory of disruptive innovation made him a key influence on Silicon Valley powerhouses like Netflix and Intel and twice earned him the title of the world’s most influential living management thinker, was an important inspiration for the early move into digital of Deseret Media.
The "Job to Be Done"
Professor Christensen ment that “people only buy products and services to get a job done”. Understanding what “job” customers hire a digital media company to do is fundamental to relevance. At DDM, these jobs include:
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Educate Me
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Update Me
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Inspire Me
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Give Me Perspective
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Transact With Me
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Divert & Engage Me
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Connect Me
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Help Me
By focusing on these core needs, the company aligns its digital offerings—like KSL.com and Utah.com—with the practical and emotional tasks customers, readers and advertisers, want accomplished.
How have we evolved?
"To do a job, whatever that job may be, we need to remain useful", means Nate. "This maintains our relevance. The hyperlocal focus is another hallmark of of who we are and what we do. We focus in the state of Utah. If we're remain relevant and useful, then it gives us the ability and opportunity for influence."
Nate organisations success has been reached thanks to two principles:
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People crave strong relationships. With the exception of a few truly crazy folks, what everybody wants more than anything else is a deep and lasting connection with other human beings and therefore every wildly successful product or service ultimately has brought people closer together in some way.
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Most people try to avoid ownership. At times owning the situation or problem or challenge brings risk to the individual. Most really want to have control but act as if their involvement won’t make any difference. Therefore you should face the situation, assume control (as a sales person for example), take responsibility and that effort will lead to outcomes that may seem unattainable. Nate means that responsability equals accountability, equals ownership, and a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon a team or organisation can have.
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The KSL Brands and Products
About 15 years ago our company decided that they could see the disruption of digital in our regular or linear media offerings and so created Deseret Digital Media at that time carving off if you will the dot-com and the app side so that they could flourish and learn as the media world and landscape changed. So we share a brand with our TV and radio sister company. KSL.com from a classifieds perspective was created by some employees from the TV side that were told to stop many times but saw the opportunity that that could be presented in the future and we're ever grateful for their continued an effort going forward and we benefit from that effort today.
Today KSL.com is the flagship digital property, encompassing:
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News and Sports content
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Marketplace sections in classifieds areas: Cars, Classifieds, Jobs, Homes, and Services
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Video and branded content via the Beyond Series (e.g., Beyond the Game, Beyond Business)
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BrandView, a paid service showcasing specific businesses or verticals
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Mobile App: 5 million monthly active users, averaging 6+ minutes of engagement per session
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Desktop Portal: Over 580,000 active classifieds and 475,000+ leads monthly
The company's reach is enhanced through legacy media partnerships with Deseret News and KSLs TV- and Radio-stations.
The KSL Portfolio for Local Advertisers
DDM’s revenue is driven by three major segments:
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Cars – the largest revenue generator with over 112,000 active listings and 137,000 leads per month
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Classifieds – robust transactional activity generating significant leads
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News Display Advertising – complemented by branded content and native offerings
Their sales team of 30 professionals is vertically integrated into specialties like cars, display, classifieds, and home services. The sales strategy includes:
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Direct client relationships
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Strategic use of first-party data
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Continued product innovation to remain relevant
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Use of AI to speed up content repurposing and delivery
Questions and Answers
Question: Would you recommend launching classifieds today?
Nate Hatch acknowledges their early mover advantage and suggests that replicating their success now would be challenging due to market saturation.
Question: How is revenue split?
Nate Hatch: Cars lead, followed by classifieds and then news-based advertising.
Question: Is obituaries a growth product?
Nate Hatch: Not significantly, but it’s a valuable community service that fits the broader “jobs to be done.”
Question: Are AI tools being used?
Nate Hatch: Yes. DDM employs AI for content adaptation across formats and sees AI as enhancing, not replacing, journalism.
Useful links and contact information
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The webinar presentation can be downloaded here. ​​
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Nate Hatch can be reached via his email
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Link to ksl.com
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Link to Deseret Digital Media (DDM), the owner of KSL and its sales organisation
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The inspiring career page of DDM with the benefits offered to the employees listed.
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You are welcome to contact the WAN-IFRA Innovate Local team, if you have questions or examples of similar cases.
Cecilia Campbell: c.campbell@wan-ifra.org
Niklas Jonason: n.jonason@wan-ifra.org
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