Two other franchises, Access Atlanta and its Food & Dining division, put culture, nightlife and retail front and center. The former makes extensive use of creative partnerships and social media. A new franchise called UATL is similarly culture-focused, but focuses specifically on Black life and culture in the city.

Not surprisingly, two of its most popular franchises revolve around sports. Dawgnation follows all things related to the University of Georgia Bulldogs, while the sports section more generally covers everything from the Braves to the Hawks. Dawgnation in particular has a popular podcast called DawgNation Daily.

When pitching these products, AJC often bundles multiple surface areas into one purchase, allowing brands to receive comprehensive exposure around the context of their choice. The publisher has also worked to expand its events portfolio and will host between 25 and 30 experiential activations this year.

The rise of publisher upfronts

Very few news publishers offer upfronts, although lifestyle publishers such as Condé Nast and BuzzFeed have recently adopted this format.

But as publishers of all kinds work to build more direct relationships with advertisers, more publishers may soon adopt this concept.

This month, food publisher Food52 is hosting its first upfront event, and in October, business publisher Workweek will hold its first upfront event in Austin. Food52 is using the opportunity to highlight its video inventory and retail media prowess. Workweek is introducing a new product to marketers at companies like Indeed, PWC and Microsoft: its partner platform.

Overall, the list of even less traditional upfronts reflects publishers’ growing desire to work with their advertisers on a more integrated, partnership basis, according to Bowers.

“It’s not the time of year when people are doing upfronts, but this keeps us out of the clutter,” Bowers said. “It gives us a reason to reach out and make our offer.”