Le Devoir, the Quebec-based francophone multiplatform news outlet, has launched a new self-service advertising platform in order to better serve the local advertiser base.

The new service is aimed at local and small-to-medium businesses and provides them the ability to design, target and launch their own ad campaigns. Previously, Le Devoir’s programmatic ad channel was mainly for agencies and big advertisers.

Features of the platform include audience targeting by geolocation and by interest. Advertisers can track the performance of campaigns in real time with data such as number of impressions, clickthrough rate and cost per click plus the ability to adjust settings to optimize results.

Montreal-based Le Devoir covers the province of Quebec with 45% of its readers in Montreal, 12% in Quebec City and 5% in Ottawa/Gatineau. According to Vividata Quebec Fall 2022 survey, Le Devoir increased readership 8% from 2021 to 2022. It has about 1.3 million weekly print and digital readers, with 473,000 print only and more than one million digital only readers.