Readership reaches 5-year high
Iam very happy to report that The Gazette’s overall (print and online) readership in the Montreal region is at a five-year high, at 554,800 readers in an average week. By contrast, total readership was 520,900 in 2007 and 545,900 last year.
The Newspaper Audience Databank (Nadbank) released its 2011 study focusing on newspaper readership in Canada’s urban centres Thursday and in the past year alone, the number of Montrealers reading the print edition increased by more than 5,000, while The Gazette’s online readership grew by 13,000 in Montreal. The Gazette’s digital platforms – websites, tablet apps, etc. – have tens of thousands of additional readers outside the Montreal metropolitan area not measured in this study.
The Nadbank study also reinforces the fact that The Gazette plays an important role in the daily lives of English Montrealers, with 63 per cent of English Montrealers reading The Gazette’s print or online editions throughout the week.
In addition, 120,000 French-language Montreal adults and 95,000 allophone Montrealers are among The Gazette’s readership.
The Postmedia newspapers, including The Gazette, Vancouver Sun, The Province, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Saskatoon Star-phoenix, Regina Leader Post, Windsor Star, Ottawa Citizen, and the National Post nationally, saw print/online readership increase 1 per cent to 4.9 million on a weekly basis.
Weekly online readership is up 7 per cent across the chain to 1.6 million, making Postmedia the largest newspaper website network in the country.
Also according to the Nadbank numbers, the Canadian publishing industry continues to demonstrate and maintain substantial readership with print/online reach of 78 per cent of the general population on a weekly basis. Half of all Canadians read a newspaper in print or online every day.
“We are seeing stability in readership right across Postmedia publishing and the Canadian industry in general,’’ said Gordon Fisher, National Post president and Eastern Canada executive vice-president for Postmedia.