The past week has seen newspapers themselves becoming the headlines as the Globe and Mail debuted its new look, Metro blushed pink and the Toronto Star unveiled its new Moneyville product. In a bit of good news for all daily papers making investments in new looks and products, readership appears to be holding steady in Canada’s major markets, the latest NADBank readership study reveals.

The interim study, covering the fall of 2009 and the spring of 2010, includes data on six of Canada’s million-plus markets, revealing readership stats largely unchanged from the same report last year.

Weekly readership of a printed or online edition of a daily newspaper was highest in Vancouver and Ottawa-Gatineau at 79% (up 1% and down 1%, respectively, from last fall), with Edmonton and Calgary next at 78% (both down 1%), Montreal at 77% (same) and Toronto at 76% (up 1%).

The most-read papers in each respective market were: the Toronto Star at 52% total weekly readership (up 2% over last fall), Le Journal de Montreal at 41% (up 1%); The Province (Vancouver) at 48% (same); the Ottawa Citizen at 51% (up 2%); the Calgary Herald at 56% (down 1%); and the Edmonton Journal at 54% (down 5%).

Online readership also continued to climb: Ottawa-Gatineau remained the most-read online market with 30% weekly readership (up 2%), Toronto with 25% (same) and Calgary at 25% (up 3%).

The Ottawa Citizen made the biggest jump in weekly online readership, up 5% over last fall to 21%, with the Edmonton Journal in second with a 3% gain to 15% and the Calgary Herald in third with a 2% gain for a total weekly online readership of 16%. The major markets in which the newspaper with the highest online weekly readership differed from the total weekly readership leader include Vancouver, where the Sun topped the Province online, and Montreal, where La Press topped Le Journal online.

Related stories: It’s alive! Newspaper readership holds steady: NADBank (2009 study); Newspapers holding steady in major markets: NADBank (2008/09 study)