Nearly half of Canadian adults (46%) read a printed edition of a newspaper each day, but the latest readership report from the Toronto-based Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank) suggests a continued migration towards paper’s associated websites, particularly among younger demographics.
The 2011NADbank readership report shows that 34% of Canadian adults 18-34 read a print edition of a newspaper each day, but that number increases to 40% when factoring in online editions. By comparison, the report found that 51% of adults 35+ read a print edition, and their total daily reach is 55%.
The study found that roughly a quarter of Canadians–24%–visit a daily newspaper website each week, while 12% visit each day. Online readership varies significantly by market, with adults in North Bay the most avid consumers of web content at 39%.
In Canada’s six largest markets–Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary and Edmonton–newspaper websites reach an estimated 3.02 million adults each week.
Print remains the preferred choice for newspaper readers, with 73% of adults indicating they read a printed edition each week and 46% indicating that they read a print edition each day.
The country’s most read newspaper is the Toronto Star, which attracts 1 million daily readers to its print edition. Its website, TheStar.com, extends its daily reach to 1.2 million. The Star’s combined weekly reach of 2.28 million people is almost equivalent to the reach of all daily newspapers in Canada’s second biggest newspaper market, Montreal (2.37 million).
The Toronto edition of Metro, meanwhile, underscores the significant effect free dailies have had on the overall newspaper market. Metro is the second most-read publication in the country’s biggest media market, with 524,000 daily readers.
Reflecting its nature as primarily a commuter paper, the Metro website extends the paper’s daily reach by only 14,500 (compared with 74,100 for the market’s original commuter paper, the Toronto Sun).
Metro has the greatest weekly reach of any newspaper in the country, with its seven editions reaching 3.4 million Canadians each week. Free dailies have the greatest uptake in Halifax, where they reach an estimated 50% of adults between Monday and Friday.
Among other markets:
• Le Journal de Montréal attracts 597,000 daily readers, while its website increases its daily reach to 617,500. Its French-language counterpart, La Presse, attracts 436,500 Monday to Friday readers for its print edition, while its website increases that daily reach to 525,600.
• In Ottawa, which features seven daily newspapers, the Postmedia Network-owned Ottawa Citizen attracts a market-leading 242,000 daily readers to its print edition. Its website, OttawaCitizen.com, extends its daily reach to 289,000.
• In Vancouver, The Vancouver Sun attracts 449,000 daily readers to its print product, while VancouverSun.com boosts its daily reach to 528,700. Sister paper The Province boasts daily print readership of 407,700 and combined readership of 450,700 when factoring in TheProvince.com.
The annual NADbank study measures readership for 82 Canadian newspapers and two Detroit newspapers (The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press) in 53 markets across the country. The database records the readership habits for approximately 72% of Canadian adults.
