*** NEWS FLASH *** NADbank releases readership numbers for Toronto and Montreal

The Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank) announced results today from the first half of the 2005 study, analyzing daily newspaper readership in the Toronto and Montreal markets. In Toronto, The Toronto Star leads with 50% of adults 18+ on average reading the paper over the course of a week, down from 54% from the same time last year. The Toronto Sun follows at 30% (spring 2004 figures were at 33%), while The Globe & Mail trails at 21%, down 1% from spring 2004. Average weekly readership of The National Post at the half-point of the year stayed steady at 12%.

Interestingly, average five-day readership of the freebies Metro and 24 hours grew in both markets. Metro grabbed 20% in both Toronto and Montreal, up from 19% and 18% respectively from last year. 24 hours came in at 17% in Toronto and 11% in Montreal, increases of 4% and 2% from spring 2004.
By Pia Musngi
September 16, 2005

The Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank) announced results today from the first half of the 2005 study, analyzing daily newspaper readership in the Toronto and Montreal markets. In Toronto, The Toronto Star leads with 50% of adults 18+ on average reading the paper over the course of a week, down from 54% from the same time last year. The Toronto Sun follows at 30% (spring 2004 figures were at 33%), while The Globe & Mail trails at 21%, down 1% from spring 2004. Average weekly readership of The National Post at the half-point of the year stayed steady at 12%.

Interestingly, average five-day readership of the freebies Metro and 24 hours grew in both markets. Metro grabbed 20% in both Toronto and Montreal, up from 19% and 18% respectively from last year. 24 hours came in at 17% in Toronto and 11% in Montreal, increases of 4% and 2% from spring 2004.

Five-day cume for the paid-subscription dailies dropped across the board except for Toronto readership of the Post which held at 11%, The Globe dropped from 20% to 19%; the Sunmoved from 28% to 25%; and the Star lost 3% but still has the highest five-day readership at 42%.

In Montreal, the five-day cume for paid-subscription papers has Le Journal de Montreal leading with 38%, down just 1% from last spring. La Presse and The Gazette both lost 2% with results of 24% and 16% respectively. The freebies Métro and 24 heures gained 2% from the same time last year posting 20% and 11% respectively.

For 6/7-day cume readers, the Montreal market sees Le Journal de Montreal in the lead at 42%, a slight decrease from last year’s 44%, with La Presse (at 29% this year, decreasing from their spring 2004 figure of 32%), and The Gazette (18% this year and 20% in 2004) taking the number two and three spots.

Average issue readership in Toronto is at 48%, down from 51% as compared to the full NADbank 2004 study results. On the other hand, Montreal papers haven’t lost much issue readership with a comparable 53% to last year’s full NADbank study number of 54%.

According to the NADbank release, 78% of adults read a daily over the past week during spring 2005 in Toronto, with the Montreal market just a percentage point behind at 77% for the same time period and demo.

With files from Patti Summerfield.