Community newspapers – combasetm adding to the print media mix in canada

Canada is a country of 13 million households and 31 million people. Community newspapers represent a billion dollar business with over 1000 titles publishing at least weekly in either, or both official languages. With a total circulation of 11.2 million copies weekly, proprietary and non title-specific research suggests average issue readership of at least 60% nationally, higher than any other media. In most markets, the community newspaper is the medium of record. Until this year, community newspapers were the only major medium in Canada without a national audience study. Other major media – television, radio, magazines and outdoor – have had annual data available to planners for decades. The only national research available for community newspapers came from the Print Measurement Bureau measurement of ‘local community newspapers’ – a generic, non-title-specific, category – through a national sample; but, it was believed by some that both the question wording and sampling methodology under-represented readership.

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