New Study Shows Strong Newspaper Readership in Canada's Big Cities

By: Mark Fitzgerald More than three-quarters of adults in Canada's biggest markets read a daily newspaper in any one week, according to the latest readership study from NADbank Inc. released Wednesday.

The study of the nation's largest markets -- Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver -- found that 77% of adults surveyed said they had read a daily in print or online in the past week. NADbank, or Newspaper Audience Databank, is the principal research arm of the Canadian daily newspaper industry.

While online readership boosted the bottom line in all markets, many of the 29 dailies in the largest markets also showed increases in print readership.

For instance, in Canada's biggest market, readership of the Toronto Star increased to 974,000 for the weekday print edition, up from 929,000 in the year-ago period.

Toronto-area print readership of the nationally circulated Globe and Mail increased 2.7% to 407,200, and the National Post ticked up 0.5% in print readership in the market.

Print and online readership of the Star in the "read yesterday" category jumped by 4.8%.

"We are extremely pleased with these results," Star publisher John Cruickshank said in an article in the paper Wednesday. "They indicate that the efforts by everyone at the Star and thestar.com to produce a quality newspaper and an informative and lively website are being favorably received by readers of all ages throughout the greater Toronto area."

Overall in Toronto, 75% of adults 18 and over read either a printed or online edition of a daily newspaper. Online readership in the market jumped 25%.

In Ottawa-Gatineau, readership reached 80% of all adults. Readership was 79% in Calgary and Edmonton. The three markets also had the biggest increases in online readership, with 28% in Ottawa, Toronto, 25% and Calgary 22%.