Newspapers are alive and well in Canada

Newspapers are alive and well in Canada. Eight in 10 Canadians have read a newspaper in the last week in print or on a newspaper site. And each day, more than half of Canadians read.

If we just consider print newspapers for a moment, today there are 21 percent more print newspapers than there were in 1970. Furthermore, there were 10 new print newspapers launched in the last year. Canadians love print newspapers.

Many newspapers offer flyers both in print and electronic form. Eighty five percent of Canadians use flyers – and by far (90%) they tell us they use the print flyer.

Canadians are embracing newspapers across all devices.

Research shows the average Canadian touches newspaper media six times in a day: two times in print, two times on the web, once via tablet and once via phone.

Canadians want newspapers; they also want newspaper ads. They expect newspapers to have ads and trust advertising in newspapers both–in print and online–more than ads in other media.

So why the misperception about our newspapers? The data for Canadian newspapers is not the case in the United States. And their bad news spills over the border.

In the U.S., cities might have one local paper. In Canada, many of our cities have lots of options in terms of newspapers.

More papers equals more competition, which keeps the industry on its toes.

As such, Canadian papers provide readers and advertisers with lots of innovative options such as more colour, unique ad shapes and placement, QR codes, multi-media opportunities and more. In the U.S., papers had the opportunity to get sleepy (and they did).

Newspapers in Canada are vibrant. About a quarter of all ad dollars are spent on newspapers.

This roughly matches the amount spent on TV and is more than the amount spent on internet advertising. Advertisers clearly agree on the power of newspapers.

Suzanne Raitt,
Newspapers Canada