Youthful eyes are the prize as newspapers crank up freebie war

Young people who are reluctant to read traditional newspapers have become the prized quarry in an intensifying hunt that is shaking up the publishing business in Canada.

Last week's unveiling of Dose, CanWest Global Communications Corp.'s daily magazine, is the latest attempt by a publishing firm to grab the eyeballs of elusive 18- to 34-year-old readers. This demographic group has become a crucial target for newspapers, not only because it has been drifting away from traditional print media, but because of its huge disposable income and growing economic clout.

Dose plans to publish 320,000 copies in five Canadian cities, starting in early April. It will be distributed in retail stores, university campuses, apartments and in newspaper boxes, and will also have an interactive website that will allow music downloads, and a link to wireless phones to let users access information, images and games.

But Dose is entering a crowded market, where there are already a number of weekly entertainment newspapers, and several free dailies. Toronto and Montreal each already have two free daily papers aimed at commuters -- Metro and 24 Hours/24 Heures.

One or both of those ventures are expected to start up shortly in Vancouver.

What all these publications have in common is a target audience of young people with little time on their hands, a predilection for short bites of useful news, and a high degree of comfort with new electronic media. It's those traits that have caused this demographic group to shift away from traditional daily newspapers, a worrying trend for publishers.

U.S. studies show a sharp decline in newspaper circulation in the 1990s, and attribute much of it to a fall in readership by young people.

In Canada, research from NADbank Inc., the Newspaper Audience Databank, shows that about 80 per cent of Canadians between 18 and 34 read a newspaper at least once a week -- not much different from other age groups. The concern, though, is that only 45 per cent of the readers in that demographic look at a paper every day, considerably lower than in other age groups.

"Young people just aren't picking up newspapers the way they did 20 or 30 years ago," said newspaper analyst John Morton of Morton Research Inc. in Silver Spring, Md. "The consequence is that newspaper readership is dying off faster than it's being added to. Eventually, that's going to cause an awful lot of problems."

One approach to the problem, initiated years ago by many newspapers, was to create special sections or pages of interest to youth. "Celebrity coverage, pop music coverage, and school sports coverage in the regular papers may have helped, but it hasn't stemmed the decline," Mr. Morton said.

The new solution being embraced by many newspapers is to create entirely new free papers to appeal to young readers, with the hope these readers will eventually graduate to traditional papers. That's what has prompted the creation in the United States of papers like RedEye, from the Chicago Tribune, and Express, published by the Washington Post.

In Canada, Toronto Star publisher Torstar Corp. collaborated with Metro International SA to create Metro in Toronto, while Sun Media Corp. publishes 24 Hours and 24 Heures. (Metro in Montreal is a joint venture between printer Transcontinental Inc. and Metro International.) The papers aim at a young demographic. Dose will be in the same mould, although heavily emphasizing the on-line and wireless links. Dose will be distributed in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa, cities where CanWest has a strong daily paper.

At all the North American freebies, "the publishers are hoping that the 'mother paper,' in the long run, will benefit," Mr. Morton said.

If it works, all newspapers -- even those without their own youth-oriented publications -- could eventually gain, said Lauren Richards, national media director for Cossette Media in Toronto.

The Globe and Mail, for example, which concentrates on attracting high-income professional readers, will benefit if young people cut their teeth on a youth-oriented paper and migrate to a more serious read later in life, she said.

"If they enjoy it, indeed they might want to spend more time [reading news], and read more in depth," Ms. Richards said. "It doesn't hurt papers like the Globe to have [the new papers] in the market." She is enthusiastic about CanWest's new venture, partly because of its multi-media approach and emphasis on getting at readers through the Internet. After all, "on-line is indeed where so many hours are being spent by teens and young adults," she said. "To fish where the fish are always makes sense."

CanWest also has the ability to cross-promote the venture through its other media assets, including Global Television, the National Post and its radio stations, Ms. Richards said. "They certainly have the power in their media arsenal to make it work."

CanWest had the advantage of watching Metro and 24 Hours make inroads into the market, and can see the volume of advertising in weekly entertainment publications, said Ed Strapagiel of newspaper consulting firm Kubas Consultants. "So the formula behind Dose is not entirely a gamble."

But the existence of those other free papers means there is now intense competition, particularly in the crowded Toronto market. And distributing Dose efficiently in five cities will be a tough proposition, Torstar CEO Robert Prichard said last week. "It's logistically complicated. People look at our free Metro and say: 'Oh that looks pretty easy,' . . . but it's a complicated business to get 225,000 copies into people's hands."