Each property arrived with its own ad system, its own billing setup, and its own way of booking orders - and nothing reconciles cleanly at the group level.
Back to all industries 
FOR MULTI-PROPERTY MEDIA GROUPS
One publishing operations platform for every title you run.
AccountScout by Fake Brains gives multi-property media groups a single system for ad sales, order entry, production, billing, and collections across every publication - so you stop reconciling five tools and start running one operation.
- Built for newspaper and media publishing since 1991
- 100% built in-house in Colorado
- No per-seat fees — accounts for your whole staff
- Delivered from the Fake Brains cloud — no server to maintain
- 300+ built-in reports
Running 5 to 50 publications shouldn't mean running 5 to 50 systems.
Media groups grow by acquisition, and every acquisition tends to bring its own software, its own billing process, and its own version of the truth.
Group-wide revenue and A/R live in spreadsheets that someone rebuilds by hand every month from exports that never quite line up.
A rep who covers more than one title has to log into more than one system, and an advertiser who runs across titles gets more than one invoice.
Closing the books across all properties takes too long because every paper hands off numbers in a different format on a different timeline.
Standalone classified portals, proofing tools, and payment vendors multiply with every property, so you pay more vendors and chase more support lines.
Without one source of truth, you can't compare titles, spot the underperformers, or see which advertisers run across the whole group.
ONE PLATFORM, EVERY TITLE
How AccountScout runs a multi-property group.
AccountScout was built for the way publishing operations actually work - so a group can standardize across properties without flattening what makes each title different.
Every publication on one system
Run all your titles in a single AccountScout database. Each property keeps its own rate cards, schedules, and ad types, while the group sees everything in one place.
One advertiser record across titles
An advertiser who runs in three of your papers is one account, not three. Reps see the full relationship, and billing can consolidate or split by property as you need.
Group-wide reporting without the rebuild
300+ built-in reports cover sales, production, and A/R, and you can roll numbers up across the whole group or drill into a single title without exporting to a spreadsheet.
Billing and collections in one workflow
Statements, recurring billing, credit holds, and collections run the same way for every property, so month-end close stops depending on who does it.
Sales coverage across properties
SalesScout gives reps account history, pipeline, quotes, and activity on the web and mobile - whether they sell one title or carry several.
Fewer outside vendors
Classified order entry, proof approval, and advertiser payments are native modules, so you can retire the patchwork of third-party tools each property brought with it.
REPS ACROSS TITLES
One login, however many mastheads they carry.
A rep covering four titles should not log into four systems to find out how they are pacing. The territory belongs to the rep, not to the property.
- Goals, pipeline and follow-ups across every title the rep sells
- Works on a phone between calls, not only at the desk
- What a rep books counts as group revenue the moment it is booked
ONE ADVERTISER, ONE BILL
An advertiser running in four titles gets one statement.
Group advertisers are the ones worth keeping, and they are the ones most likely to receive four invoices from four systems. One account record means one balance and one place to settle it.
- One balance across every title the advertiser runs in
- Card and ACH payments post to the account that issued the invoice
- Proof approvals for every title arrive in the same login
CONSOLIDATING AFTER GROWTH
Inherited a stack of mismatched tools? You're not alone.
Most groups don't choose their software all at once - they inherit it title by title, deal by deal. Here's how consolidation actually goes.
You acquired the software with the paper
Every property came with whatever it was already running. Consolidating onto one platform means you negotiate one contract, train one workflow, and stop paying for overlap - instead of maintaining a different system for each title.
You've outgrown the spreadsheet that holds it together
When group reporting depends on someone manually merging exports each month, you've outgrown the setup. One database means roll-up reporting is a query, not a project, and the numbers match across every property.
You're tired of one vendor per property per function
Separate billing, classifieds, proofing, and payment vendors at each title add up fast - more invoices, more logins, more support lines. Consolidating onto AccountScout means one vendor, one source of truth, and a team that answers the phone.
You want each title to keep its identity
Standardizing the back office shouldn't mean every paper looks the same to its market. Each property keeps its own rates, sections, and ad types while the group gets consistent billing, reporting, and workflow underneath.
HOW GROUPS MOVE OVER
Consolidation that respects what each title already does.
We've moved media groups onto AccountScout property by property without stopping the presses.
1
Map the group
We look at every property's ad types, rate cards, billing process, and the vendors each one is running today.
2
Bring titles onto one platform
Each publication moves onto AccountScout with its own rates and schedules intact, inside one shared database.
3
Consolidate advertisers and billing
Cross-title advertisers become single records, and statements, recurring billing, and collections run one consistent way.
4
Roll reporting up to the group
Sales, production, and A/R report at the title level and roll up across the group - no more month-end spreadsheet merge.
Multi-property publishing software questions
Most newspapers run their advertising on a publishing operations platform that combines CRM, ad order entry, production handoff, and billing in one system. AccountScout by Fake Brains does exactly this - one record for the advertiser, one place to book retail, classified, digital, and insert orders, and a clean handoff into production and billing. For a media group, the advantage is that every title runs the same way in the same database.
The modules that run a multi-property group
Start with the platform, then add the modules that retire your outside vendors title by title.
AccountScout
The publishing operations platform - CRM, order entry, production, billing, and reporting for every title in one database.
ExploreSalesScout
Web and mobile CRM for reps who sell across one or several of your publications.
ExploreClassifiedScout
Online classified ordering and presentment so every title can take classifieds on the web.
ExploreBilling & Collections
Statements, recurring billing, credit holds, and collections run one consistent way across the group.
ExploreSee It In Action
See your whole group running on one platform.
Book a demo and we'll show how AccountScout consolidates ad sales, production, billing, and payments across every title - and how groups move over property by property.
303-791-3301