Ken Hunt began his distinguished journalism career at the bottom of the Toronto Life masthead, as a lowly editorial intern. Beginning Jan. 30, he finds himself at the top.
Toronto Life owner St. Joseph Media announced Monday that Hunt will succeed veteran Canadian publishing executive David Hamilton as publisher of its flagship title. Hunt has been with St. Joseph since 2011 following the company’s purchase of his independent blog, Torontoist, and its parent company, Ink Truck Media.
He has spent the past two-and-a-half years as St. Joseph’s vice-president of digital, building the company’s digital capabilities across its brand portfolio. Toronto Life’s monthly digital audience now exceeds more than 1.2 million – more than twice its monthly print readership – with TorontoLife.com publishing as many as 30 original stories per day, according to St. Joseph Media president Douglas Knight.
“[Hunt] has shown tremendous leadership across all of our digital operations over the last two or three years, and now he has the opportunity to take one of our premiere titles to the next level,” said Knight. “It’s been solid as a rock, but now we have the opportunity to see what the next level looks like.”
Knight called Hunt’s appointment a natural step in Toronto Life’s evolution, saying he is “clearly the best guy” to head up the city magazine – which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016. “We were not going to go look for someone who could execute our plan, we’re going to have the guy who’s been executing the plan,” he said.
While stressing that Toronto Life’s print edition remains a “deeply important” part of the brand, Knight said placing all aspects of the business – print, online and events – under Hunt’s leadership would ensure the title’s long-term viability.
While some U.S. titles such as Esquire have recently begun charging on a per-article basis for so-called “premium” content online, Knight said there are no plans to adopt a similar approach at Toronto Life.
“Within the context of a city magazine and the audience we have here, adding that kind of a hurdle to building a larger community is not on my agenda at the moment,” he said. “I’m much more interested in building a larger, more engaged community, and having advertisers and marketers come in and engage that community.”
Knight said recent months have seen a “nice turnaround” in newsstand sales for Toronto Life, with sales of its October, November and December issues up 29%, 35% and 32% respectively over their 2013 counterparts.
While newsstand sales are a less important revenue stream than they were 10-15 years ago, Knight said they can still be considered an arbiter of the brand’s overall health. “It’s awareness: People are seeing your magazine out there,” he said.
Asked if last summer’s shuttering of Torstar’s city magazine The Grid has had any impact on Toronto Life from a readership and/or revenue perspective, Knight responded, “Zero impact. We’ve noticed absolutely nothing.”
Despite The Grid’s emphasis on traditional Toronto Life strongholds such as food and local affairs, Knight said it failed to eat into its readership and advertising revenues. “Given the fact they hadn’t taken anything away from us, it would have been unusual to expect we’d somehow get something back when they stopped publishing,” he said.
Hamilton originally joined Toronto Life on a one-year contract in 2011, his tenure marked by the launch of several programs including Toronto’s Most Influential (recognizing leaders making a difference to the city), and Most Stylish, which launches the city’s red carpet season in September.
“David is an enormously experienced and very professional publisher, who agreed to come on board to help in a transitional period and stayed on for three-and-a-half years,” said Knight. “[He] brought gravitas and experience and professionalism to Toronto Life at a time that it was important.”
Hamilton, whose career includes publishing roles with both Flare and Hello! Canada, will remain with Toronto Life, helping it develop what the company called “projects of special interest,” including its “City of Parks” initiative, a special supplement and event celebrating the city’s innovative green spaces.
