How Keith Pepper turned an Atlanta newspaper chain into a digital-first media company
He started by consolidating the publications into a single web brand.
When Keith Pepper bought a chain of suburban Atlanta newspapers in late 2020, the reaction from the local media world was immediate and incredulous. A columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that he had to find out “who this nut was” who would acquire a print-heavy newspaper business in the middle of a pandemic.
The skepticism was understandable. The company Pepper acquired generated roughly 98% of its revenue from print advertising. Its publications were fragmented across different suburban brands. Its websites were little more than repositories where articles were dumped after the print editions went out. In many ways, it was a snapshot of local media as it existed a decade earlier—before the full force of digital disruption had reshaped the industry.
But Pepper didn’t see a dying business. He saw a misaligned one.
“I had a plan,” he said. “I thought this sounds kind of cool… and I saw a bunch of things that I could do to make some changes.”
Five years later, that plan has largely worked. The company—now rebranded as Rough Draft Atlanta—generates about 27% of its revenue from digital advertising, has expanded its newsroom, and has built one of the fastest-growing local newsletter audiences in the city. Perhaps most notably, it has managed that transformation without triggering a collapse in its print business, allowing Pepper to grow rather than merely stabilize the company.
The turnaround wasn’t driven by a single breakthrough. It came from a series of decisions that, taken together, fundamentally reshaped how the business operated.
In a recent interview, Pepper explained how he consolidated all the newspapers under a single brand, his strategy for attracting online ads, and why he’s avoided placing his content behind a paywall.
Let’s jump into it…
Buying a legacy business at the bottom of the market
Pepper’s background helps explain why he approached the opportunity differently. He had spent years moving between media, sales, and ad tech, including a stint at Outbrain where he worked closely with both advertisers and publishers. That vantage point gave him a rare perspective: he understood not just how content was produced, but how it was monetized—and where those systems tended to break down.
“I got insight into the challenges that publishers face,” he said, noting that the experience would later prove invaluable once he owned a media company himself.