Overall newspaper readership in Canada increased slightly in 2009, thanks to essentially steady print readership while the number of online readers grew slightly, according to the latest data released today by the Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank).
Print readership was stable at 73%, while online rose to 22% from 20%, showing 78% of adults living in a daily newspaper market read either a print or online edition each week, compared with 77% in 2008. The number of people who read online-only remained unchanged at 4%.
“It just demonstrates that this rhetoric we keep hearing about the demise of newspapers is nothing more than that, and it’s not true,” said NADbank president Anne Crassweller. “Canadians are reading newspapers–both online and in print. It’s the combination of platforms that newspapers are using that makes it such an attractive medium for Canadians.”
Readership tends to be higher in smaller communities, with the highest weekly readers in Charlottetown (91%), Cape Breton (91%), Thunder Bay (91%) followed by Peterborough (88%) and Brandon (88%).
In the top 15 Canadian markets, the highest readership for both print and online is Winnipeg (79% print, 83% overall), followed by St. Catharines-Niagara (79% print, 83% overall), Halifax (77% print, 83% overall), Windsor (77% print, 83% overall) and Québec City (76% print, 79% overall).
Crassweller also said that people who read newspapers online are more likely to read a print edition.
While the readership numbers are strong, newspapers continue to face the challenge of converting readers into revenue. The recession over the last two years hasn’t exactly been kind to newspapers, with layoffs and declining profits reported regularly. But an improved economy, growing online audience and stable print readership are encouraging signs for publishers. Phillip Crawley, publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail, said the paper’s weekday print readership has increased 3.5%, while online was up 12.7%.
“We’ve all danced around various [online] revenue models for the last 10 years, we’ve had pay walls, taken them down, and I think the jury is still out,” said Crawley. “What we’re seeing is good growth in online revenue based on advertising, as more and more advertisers are looking for an online component as well as a print component. It’s not necessarily a replacement, but an addition. There are all kinds of platforms, whether on mobile, the Kindle or the upcoming iPad, that market is changing pretty quickly and we think it’s a good opportunity but it’s not stopping people from reading the newspaper.”
The Toronto Star remains the most read newspaper in the country, averaging 1.134 million readers, while the Globe, with 906,600 readers is the most popular national newspaper well ahead of the National Post which averages 397,400 readers according to NADbank.
***This story has been updated. The original article reported the National Post averages 307,400 readers instead of 397,400. Incorrect information was supplied from the source.
