SRG: Ethnic Canucks name their preferred media brands

Solutions Research Group (srgnet.com) has found that while ethnic media is strong, some of Canada's top mainstream media brands are also quite popular with the country's ethnic consumers, particularly television. In its Diversity in Canada study, the Toronto-based market research firm found that about half of Chinese and South Asian Canadians are reached by English-language newspapers and radio while 65% to 74% can be reached by English TV. Canada's population increases by one million new Canadians every four years. Right now nearly five million ethnic consumers are located in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal - the cities that SRG focused on when conducting its Diversity in Canada research.

In addition to media habits, the study profiles the lifestyle habits, social perspectives, and brand usage of Black Canadians as well as those of Chinese, South Asian, West Asian, Hispanic, and Italian background.
By Staff 
March 23, 2006

Solutions Research Group (srgnet.com) has found that while ethnic media is strong, some of Canada’s top mainstream media brands are also quite popular with the country’s ethnic consumers, particularly television. In its Diversity in Canada study, the Toronto-based market research firm found that about half of Chinese and South Asian Canadians are reached by English-language newspapers and radio while 65% to 74% can be reached by English TV. Canada’s population increases by one million new Canadians every four years. Right now nearly five million ethnic consumers are located in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal – the cities that SRG focused on when conducting its Diversity in Canada research.

In addition to media habits, the study profiles the lifestyle habits, social perspectives, and brand usage of Black Canadians as well as those of Chinese, South Asian, West Asian, Hispanic, and Italian background.

Diversity in Canada reports that in Toronto, among Chinese Canadians, the Toronto Star, Sing Tao, and Ming Pao are the leading dailies.

* City TV and Omni 2 are the top TV stations for South Asian Canadians and Telelatino is the top TV station among Hispanic Canadians.

* The top radio station among Chinese Canadians is Fairchild 1430 AM and the top mainstream stations are 680 News and EZ Rock.

* 680 News is in the lead among South Asian Canadians, followed by CIAO 530 AM and CJMR 1320.

In Vancouver, the top daily newspaper among Chinese Canadians is Sing Tao, followed by the Vancouver Sun.

* Radio India and Sher-e-Punjab are the top radio stations for South Asians. The leading mainstream station in this group is The Beat.

* When it comes to TV, Global leads among South Asian Canadians, followed closely by CTV and CBC. Channel M and ATN are the leading ethnic channels.

* Yahoo! is the leading online destination for South Asian and Chinese Canadians, while Google is at the top for all other groups.

Still, ethnic media plays a large role, particularly in the lives of the largest, fastest-growing ethnic groups. Chinese and South-Asian Canadian segments are heavy consumers of mostly in-language ethnic media:

* 75% of Chinese Canadians and 75% of South Asian Canadians 15+ have used at least one ethnic radio or TV station, or ethnic newspaper in the last seven days. Among Hispanic Canadians, 55% have done so in the last week.

* 50% of Chinese Canadians and 57% of South Asian Canadians are reached by English-language newspapers. English radio reaches 44% of South Asian Canadians, and 53% of Chinese Canadians. English TV performs a little better in terms of reach, reaching 74% of South Asian Canadians and 65% of Chinese Canadians.

A total of 3,000 respondents aged 15+ were interviewed in nine different languages: English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish, and Italian. SRG will be releasing Diversity in Canada data covering social attitudes, sports, communications, and technology over the next few weeks.