While the latest readership figures from the Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank) show that 15.9 million Canadians read a daily newspaper in a typical week – a number consistent with recent years – print readership is increasingly being complemented, though not yet surpassed, by digital.
The 2012 study shows that about one third of Canadian adults – approximately 6.7 million people – access a daily newspaper online in a typical week. Online readership varies by market, with 43% of adults in Sherbrooke and Charlottetown likely to visit a daily newspaper website in a typical week.
The anywhere, anytime nature of 21st Century media consumption is also increasingly apparent, with the NADbank study showing that mobile-only access to daily newspapers has increased to 18% over the past two years. The percentage of readers using both computers and mobile devices to access newspapers has increased to 25%.
Print remains the cornerstone of the industry, however, with 80% of all daily readership and 89% of weekly readership to print editions. Approximately 8.7 million Canadians read a printed newspaper in a typical day, while that number increases to 14.2 million for a typical week.
The nature of how daily newspapers are consumed is relatively consistent across all markets.
In the Toronto CMA, for example, 39% of adults read a print edition of a newspaper on a typical weekday during the study period, compared with 49% who read either a printed/PDF edition or access a digital edition.
In Montreal, 43% of adults read a print edition on a typical weekday and 52% read either a printed/PDF edition or access a digital newspaper edition, while the numbers in Vancouver are 45% and 52% respectively.
NADbank reports that daily newspapers have maintained their market position on the strength of their brand and a proactive approach to developing digital platforms. “It is clear that their efforts have paid off,” said the report.
The report also notes that changes in content delivery methods are enabling readers to access newspapers throughout the day, with readership duplication across platforms suggesting that readers are accessing content several times a day.
The 2012 study also expanded its coverage to provide readership data on print and web editions, as well as PDF/replica editions, apps and hub websites such as Canada.com, Canoe.ca and LaPresse.ca. Readers were also asked how they accessed this content.
This data is currently available for six markets (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa-Gatineau and Quebec City) with the rest of the major markets having a single-digital readership figure until the new metrics are implemented for the 2013 study.
The study found that the printed edition remains the preferred format in the top five markets of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa-Gatineau, garnering 80% of readership on a daily basis and 89% weekly. When factoring in PDF/replica editions, that number increased to 83% and 91% respectively.
Newspaper websites attracted 14% of daily readership and 25% of weekly readership, while apps accounted for 5% of daily and 8% of weekly readership respectively.
The internet long ago supplanted free dailies as the biggest challenge to the incumbents. The NADbank report suggests that paid dailies have a higher five-day cumulative readership in every major market.
The Globe and Mail has the highest readership among the country’s eight multi-market publications, reaching a total of 1.64 million people in 47 markets daily through its print (872,000) and web (927,000) product.
It is followed by the free daily Metro and its French equivalent, which reaches 1.59 million readers across seven markets – all but 103,1000 of those to the print product.
The Toronto Star has total daily readership of 1.5 million across print (1.05 million) and digital (638,000), while another freebie, 24 Hours/24 heures reaches a combined 1.01 million people daily across six markets. The Toronto Sun reaches a combined 722,000 readers each day, followed by the National Post with a combined daily readership of 693,000.
