Prothom Alo was founded on 4 November 1998. The circulation of Prothom Alo grew from an initial circulation of 42,000 to a circulation of a half million copies. The newspaper distinguished itself by its investigations of acid attacks and violence against women and pushing for tougher laws against the sale of acid. From press facilities located in Dhaka, Chittagong and Bogra, around 5,00,000 copies (as of March ‘2014) are circulated each day. According to National Media Survey 2018, everyday 6.6 million people read the print edition of Prothom Alo. The claimed readership of the online and print edition of this newspaper is 7.6 million.
A senior reporter of Prothom Alo, Rozina Islam, was detained for 5 hours in Bangladesh Secretariat after she went there to cover the health ministry on 17 May 2021. A case was filed against her by an official of Health Service Division under the Official Secrets Act. After filling of the case she was taken to Shahbagh Police Station. She was quizzed for 5 days in police remand. She was released upon bail from Kashimpur prison on 23 May 2021