A rave from Hugh: Star‘s new downloadable edition is a potential winner for marketers

M2 Universal president Hugh Dow is definitely optimistic about the viability of the Toronto Star's new downloadable afternoon edition as a profitable venue for marketers. He's already signed on one of his major clients - General Motors of Canada - to appear during this week's debut of the initiative, which is being touted as the first of its kind by a major North American newspaper.

Dow's reasoning? 'First, they're providing exclusivity in each of the specific categories they've identified. And second, this is something that's instantly measurable in that we can track how many downloads there are on a daily basis instead of waiting for weeks or months or even years to get a fix on (the ROI).' He adds that he thinks 'this is a very interesting venture by the Star into unexplored territory where I believe there's considerable opportunity. The commuter market is obviously very well served in the morning, but the return commute has been somewhat devoid.'
By Terry Poulton
September 7, 2006

M2 Universal president Hugh Dow is definitely optimistic about the viability of the Toronto Star‘s new downloadable afternoon edition as a profitable venue for marketers. He’s already signed on one of his major clients – General Motors of Canada – to appear during this week’s debut of the initiative, which is being touted as the first of its kind by a major North American newspaper.

Dow’s reasoning? ‘First, they’re providing exclusivity in each of the specific categories they’ve identified. And second, this is something that’s instantly measurable in that we can track how many downloads there are on a daily basis instead of waiting for weeks or months or even years to get a fix on (the ROI).’ He adds that he thinks ‘this is a very interesting venture by the Star into unexplored territory where I believe there’s considerable opportunity. The commuter market is obviously very well served in the morning, but the return commute has been somewhat devoid.’

In an introductory column about what’s been dubbed Star P.M., publisher Michael Goldbloom said that ‘some of Canada’s top companies have shared our enthusiasm for this new format. CBC, Conquest Vacations, General Motors, Global TV, Loblaws, Mirvish Productions, Re/Max and Sears are on board as charter advertisers.’ He also said that a new marketing campaign ‘designed to distinguish newspapers from other media and the Star from other news providers in Toronto’ would be unveiled in a few weeks.

Issues of the eight-age pdf edition will be posted daily at www.thestar.com/starpm at 3:30 pm, with readers who sign up to receive it alerted by email. The paper can be downloaded in colour or black and white on 8 1/2 x 11 paper from any computer, and is meant to be a compilation of the breaking news of the day, plus ‘all the information Torontonians need for the evening ahead, including traffic conditions, road closures and the weather, as well as a choice from four additional pages: Sports Extra; Lifestyle: Food, drink and more; Click!, a page for younger adults; and People: a wrap-up of people in the news.’

At least initially, only one ad per page appears and the format is a horizontal block that’s about two inches deep and stretches across the bottom of the page. The Toronto Star is Canada’s largest daily newspaper, with more than 2.7 million weekly readers. Its website, thestar.com, which has been online since 1996, claims to have approximately 1.8 million unique users per month.