New data from the Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank) suggests that the newspaper world is flat.
According to the new study, daily newspaper readership among adults 18+ in the country’s top 17 markets remained relatively unchanged at 11.8 million in 2006. Readership in the top-10 markets grew slightly to 10.4 million, while readership in the million-plus markets of Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver also grew marginally, to 8.8 million.
“It’s a stable medium; nothing’s really changed substantially since last year,” says Anne Crassweller, NADbank’s executive director.
While it’s premature to say paid circulation papers are successfully withstanding the twin threats of the Internet and free dailies, Crassweller says their continuing adaptation to the new media world is having a positive effect.
“The newspaper marketplace and the newspaper world has changed,” she says. “So because the newspaper industry has historically been run by traditional newspapers, those are the newspapers that are shaping their world to match what consumers want.
“They’re introducing new platforms, new vehicles, new ways to get to their paper. They’re finding ways to reach consumers in ways they want to be reached.”
The survey indicates that readership of online editions continues to grow, with 16% of adults 18+ saying they had read an online edition of one of the 81 papers surveyed by NADbank. Ottawa-Gatineau had the highest incidence of online readership at 20%, followed by Halifax, Toronto and Kitchener at 19%.
The survey generated the requisite spin from publishers: The Toronto Sun trumpeted “Toronto Sun: Fastest Growing Newspaper in GTA,” while the National Post proclaimed, “National Post builds momentum as readership continues to rise in Toronto and GTA” and the Toronto Star chipped in with its standard “Toronto Star remains Canada’s most read daily newspaper.”
In the battle between the two national dailies, the Post’s weekday readership in 50 Canadian markets dipped 11.3% from 587,400 in 2005 to 520,900 last year.
The Globe and Mail’s readership dropped 6.3%, from 928,400 to 869,700 last year. In the key Toronto market, however, the Post’s weekday readership increased 3.5% to 224,900, while the Globe’s dipped 4.3% to 381,600.
Mark Spencer, who joined the Post from the Toronto Star as vice-president of advertising in January, says the paper’s “positive momentum is a result of a long-term strategy to focus on increasing our readership in the highly desirable demographics that advertisers seek.” The Post claims “significant growth” in the 35-49 age demographic, as well as gains in the $100,000+ household income group.
Elsewhere in the country’s largest market, weekday readership of the Toronto Star remained relatively unchanged at 982,000, as did readership of both its Saturday and Sunday editions (1.3 million readers and 799,600 readers respectively). Monday to Friday readership of Sun Media Corp.’s flagship paper, the Toronto Sun—which had plunged more than 17% in the 2005 study—grew 6.6%, or 30,100, to 483,400.
Sun publisher Kin-Man Lee said the survey served notice that the tabloid is “very much alive in Toronto for the long haul.” Sun Media received additional good news on the free daily front, as 24 Hours closed to within 27,100 readers of market leader Metro—which shed 11.7%, or 49,400, of its weekday readers. The two transit papers are read by a combined 17% of adults 18+ every weekday.
In Montreal, Le Journal de Montréal remained the most widely read paper with 663,400 Monday to Friday readers (a 2.3% increase from the 2005 study), while La Presse saw its weekday readership decline 4.5% to 431,300 and readership of The Gazette dropped 10.5% to 324,00.
As in Toronto, Sun Media Corp.’s free daily experienced a significant gain in Montreal, with 24 heures’ readership growing 30,800, or 17.4%, to 207,500. Rival Métro’s readership grew 7.3% to 286,700.
