Tronc, Investor’s Business Daily collaborate on mutual fund newsletter

Newspaper company Tronc and Investor’s Business Daily are launching Trophy Funds, a paid newsletter product designed to give its readers advice on investing in mutual funds, reports Max Willens of Digiday.

Willens reports, “IBD staffers, with some input from Tronc, will create the content, while Tronc’s consumer marketing and audience teams will handle marketing and build an audience for it. Subscriptions cost $7.99 per month, and the publishers will split the revenue; while exact details of the arrangement were not disclosed, the split is ‘pretty equal,’ according to IBD President Jerry Ferrara.

“The two publishers hail from different corners of the media landscape – Tronc’s roots are in the newspaper business, while IBD’s are in delivering a specialized, finance-focused publication – both have tried to diversify the paid products they offer to readers, and both say the partnership could be the start of a broader trend — not just at their respective companies, but across the digital publishing landscape.

“‘I think it’s super important, for independent publishers in particular,’ Ferrara said. ‘If you’re not part of a giant publishing house, it’s going to get increasingly difficult to do it on your own.'”

Read more here.