Report updated Jun 19, 2026
El Paso Times
For local residents and community members seeking regional news, sports coverage, and national reporting.
El Paso Times is an established news app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.1/5 rating from 1.4K reviews, it shows polarized user reception.
What is El Paso Times?
El Paso Times is a regional news app providing digital print replicas, local sports, and national reporting to community members on iOS and Android.
Users hire the app to maintain a connection to local events and print-style journalism, serving the need for regional relevance that national news outlets ignore.
Current Momentum
v8.9
- Maintains stable eNewspaper digital replica.
- Ships regular breaking news notifications.
Active Nemesis
Semana - Noticias
By Semana
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
NewsNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
Loading...
What Are The Key Features?
Digital replica of the print edition
Push alerts for breaking news
Integrated access to 200+ local eNewspapers
How much does it cost?
- Free tier
- Subscription-based premium
Freemium model uses a sampling gate to convert casual readers into monthly or annual subscribers.
Who Built It?
Gannett
Providing hyper-local news and sports coverage to US communities through digital-first newspaper replicas and real-time reporting.
Portfolio
13
Apps
What other apps does Gannett make?
Explore the full Gannett report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Gannett.
What do users think recently?
Analysis in progress, available soon
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for El Paso Times?
How's The News Market?
News Category — The app holds a #170 Grossing position in the US News & Magazines category. The gap between its established print-subscriber base and its mobile-first feature set suggests the current monetization strategy relies on legacy habits rather than new-user conversion.
How does it evolve in the News market?
The app holds a #170 Grossing position in the US News & Magazines category. The rating disparity between iOS (4.45) and Android (3.46) suggests that the current mobile experience is not parity-optimized across platforms.
Rank progression
1 active ranking tracked — 30-day window
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
This app competes for the user's daily news attention by offering a high-engagement, community-driven platform that contrasts with the target's traditional journalistic approach.
Contenders(4)
This app competes by positioning itself as a comprehensive news hub that combines historical archives with modern financial tracking.
Differentiators
- Provides access to a deep historical archive, creating long-term value for research-oriented news readers
- Integrates financial market tracking tools, expanding the app's utility beyond general news reporting
This app competes for the same local news market share by prioritizing real-time updates and personalized user experiences.
Differentiators
- Features a live-ticker for real-time updates that keeps users informed during fast-moving local events
- Provides a highly customizable start page that allows users to prioritize their preferred news topics
This app competes by offering a similar mix of traditional news delivery and personalized content management for a regional audience.
Differentiators
- Utilizes activity badges to gamify the reading experience and encourage consistent daily app engagement
- Offers a dedicated text-only mode that provides a cleaner, distraction-free reading experience for users
Both apps serve as digital extensions of regional newspaper brands, competing for local readers who value traditional journalism and digital replicas.
Differentiators
- Includes an E-News digital replica feature that satisfies users who prefer a traditional print layout
- Integrates in-app games to increase daily active usage beyond standard news consumption sessions
Same space(3)
This app competes by leveraging a strong broadcast brand to deliver a high-quality, video-centric news and weather experience.
This app competes for the same audience by offering a multi-format news experience including live radio and video streaming.
Differentiators
- Integrates live radio streaming, providing a unique audio-first news experience for commuters and busy users
- Allows for regional content selection, enabling a more tailored experience for users in diverse areas
This app competes directly by providing a similar broadcast-style news experience with a heavy emphasis on local weather and alerts.
Differentiators
- Maintains a significantly higher user rating, suggesting superior stability and UI satisfaction compared to target
- Prioritizes weather-first utility, which serves as a powerful retention hook for local news consumers
Compare El Paso Times against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for El Paso Times
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- USA TODAY network integration provides national-to-local content scale
- Print-replica eNewspaper satisfies legacy subscriber retention needs
Critical Frictions
- Android rating 3.46 lags behind iOS 4.45
- Lack of interactive features limits younger user engagement
Growth Levers
- Hyper-local community exclusives differentiate from national aggregators
- Weather-first utility integration could drive daily opens
Market Threats
- Broadcast-affiliated apps capture retention via weather radar tools
- Digital-native aggregators prioritize real-time social discovery
What are the next best moves?
Audit Android UI performance because of the 1.0★ rating gap compared to iOS → close the platform satisfaction divide.
The Android rating of 3.46 is significantly lower than the iOS rating of 4.45.
Trade-off: Pause the eNewspaper UI refresh — platform parity is a higher retention priority than replica layout tweaks.
Integrate local weather radar widgets because broadcast competitors use them to drive daily utility → increase daily active usage.
Competitors like CBS12 News use weather-first utility to maintain local market share.
Trade-off: Deprioritize the USA TODAY national feed expansion — local utility is a stronger retention hook than national content.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's reliance on a print-replica format is not a weakness but a specific retention mechanism for a high-LTV demographic that digital-native aggregators cannot easily poach.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Weather radar tools (available in CBS12 News but absent here)
- Live radio streaming (available in CityNews but absent here)
- Activity badges (available in Dongailbo but absent here)
Key Takeaways
- The app's reliance on print-replica formats limits its appeal to younger, mobile-first news consumers.
- Android stability issues require immediate engineering attention to close the 1.0★ rating gap with iOS.
- Weather and live-video integration are the primary retention drivers for local news competitors.
El Paso Times maintains a stable print-loyal base through its eNewspaper, but it risks losing the next generation of readers to broadcast-style apps with better daily utility, so the PM must prioritize local weather and stability to defend the local news moat.
Where Is It Heading?
Mixed Signals
The local news market is shifting toward high-utility, broadcast-style features that drive daily engagement. El Paso Times remains exposed to churn if it continues to rely solely on print-replica content, so the team must pivot toward daily utility tools to remain relevant.
The 1.0★ rating gap between Android and iOS indicates platform-specific friction, which limits the app's ability to scale across the full mobile market.
USA TODAY network integration provides a content scale that protects the app against smaller local rivals who lack national reporting resources.