Postmedia Network has struck a deal with Gateway Newsstands, making the retailer the exclusive distributor of its free daily 24 Hrs at more than 90 Toronto Transit Commission and Go Transit locations throughout the Greater Toronto Area, as well as within the underground PATH system and Gateway stores. The three-year deal takes effect July 2.
Gateway had been a longtime distributor of 24 Hrs’ freebie rival Metro, a partnership dating back to the paper’s 2000 inception.
Postmedia president and CEO Paul Godfrey said in a release that the deal will help the company bring 24 Hrs to a “broader audience” by making it available to commuters.
Phyllise Gelfand, vice-president of communications with Postmedia, said that the company is targeting readers 18-34, which matches “very closely” with the profile of a typical TTC user.
In addition to increasing the publication’s reach, Godfrey said that the deal will also provide advertisers with an opportunity to reach a younger demographic.
Gelfand said that the company currently operates approximately 2,500 24 Hrs newspaper boxes within the city, and has no plans to scale back in the wake of the Gateway deal.
She said that 24 Hrs has a current circulation is approximately 200,000 per day, but that number is expected to grow as it becomes available at Gateway locations and racks within the TTC’s subway system. She said that company will likely adjust the number of copies carried in above ground boxes, particularly near subway stations, but didn’t provide an exact number.
Postmedia acquired 24 Hrs publications in Toronto and Vancouver as part of its $316 million purchase of Sun Media’s 173 English language publications from Quebecor (a Montreal edition, 24 Heures, is still owned by Quebecor). The deal formally closed in April after the Competition Bureau said it would not block the takeover of assets.
Established in 2003 (Sun Media also published a short-lived predecessor called FYI Toronto), 24 Hrs averages 245,000 weekday readers 18+ in Toronto according to the latest numbers from the Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank), fewer than half that of its freebie rival Metro (499,200).
Quebecor shut down 24 Hrs publications in Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary in 2013, saying that it intended to focus on a single urban newspaper in those markets. At the time, it said that Montreal and Toronto’s mass transit systems warranted the continuation of the free product.
