It was founded by William 'Ironside' Tait, whose descendants still live in the town and in fact it was his great great grandson, Richard Avery, who in March 1996 unveiled a plaque at the front of the building to commemorate the anniversary. The paper was bought by Heart of England Newspapers in the late 1960s and then by Emap Newspaper Division in the late 1980s. This division was then bought by Johnston Press in the ’90s and is part of the company’s Central Counties Newspapers (North) publishing company which is based in Aylesbury, Bucks. The early years of the Advertiser saw little local news, although the paper had offices in Rugby, Nuneaton and Kineton. After World War Two the Advertiser introduced editions covering Lutterworth and Daventry. The publication was printed in-house in Rugby until the late 1960s when it moved initially to Nuneaton and later Leamington. Today the editorial part of the paper is produced totally in Rugby including the scanning of colour and black and white pictures. The advertisements are typeset at The Chronical & Echo building in Northampton and printed in Peterborough. A cornerstone of the town the Rugby Advertiser aims to be an essential part of the community, accurately reflecting events and activites of the people. Every week it is packed with news, views and sport of its readers.

The Advertiser has a sister publication, the Rugby Review, which is also published on a Thursday. The Review carries no editorial, but is the clear market leader for advertising. In 1998 the paper launched its website Rugby On-line. In 1999 it was a runner-up in the Best Weekly Newspaper on the World Wide Web in the National Newspaper 2000 Awards. Its aim is to replicate the high standard of news, sport and information from the papers but deliver it on-line with news updates every working day.

The current editor of the Advertiser is Peter Aengenheister, who is only the thirteenth in the paper's history. Managing director of Central Counties Newspapers Ltd, its parent company, is Keith Ridley.