NADbank says free dailies on the rise in Toronto

Free daily newspapers are gaining a significant foothold in Toronto, showing significant readership growth in a market where several paid papers are slipping, according to new research figures from National Audience Databank Inc.

One publisher, however, has questioned the credibility of the latest figures, which were based on about 2,100 interviews conducted between January and June.

The study of the Toronto market, to be released today, shows that the free paper 24 Hours has boosted its readership over the past year by almost 25 per cent to 323,000 on an average weekday. Another free daily in the market, Metro, has jumped 6 per cent to 399,000 readers.

Among the paid daily papers, only the National Post showed growth on weekdays, with its readership up 7.2 per cent to 208,000, according to NADbank. The Post, however showed a substantial decline in weekend readers, down 28 per cent to 160,000.

The Toronto Sun suffered the largest average weekday drop, down 16 per cent to 474,000 readers. The Toronto Star, while it still has the highest readership in the city, fell 9 per cent to 971,000. The Globe and Mail's weekday readership fell 5 per cent to 371,000, the study shows.

Globe publisher Phillip Crawley said the NADbank numbers are suspect, as they show a huge fluctuation in the mix of male and female readers of his paper.

The study reports the proportion of male Globe readers has shifted from 46 per cent in 2003, to 64 per cent a year ago to 50 per cent this past spring -- a very unlikely move, he said. "I can't trust these numbers. It just makes you question the credibility of the other key data."

Mr. Crawley said NADbank has difficulty measuring The Globe's audience because the paper's "high-end" readers are hesitant to participate in the study.

Unlike circulation numbers, which are audited counts of papers actually distributed, readership data is extrapolated from a limited number of survey participants.

NADbank executive director Anne Crassweller Ruta defended the survey yesterday, saying that it provides a good "temperature or barometer of how things are happening in the marketplace." She said, however, people should be "cautious" about individual numbers, since the survey is based on only half of the interviews that will be conducted for its full-year study.

Bob Harris, publisher of 24 Hours, described the numbers as "spectacular" for his paper. "We're delighted," he said, ascribing the gains to the paper's mix of entertainment and celebrity coverage.

The free daily, owned by Toronto Sun publisher Sun Media Corp., is redesigning its pages on Sept. 26 because it has grown so much in size, Mr. Harris said.

National Post interim publisher Gordon Fisher was also pleased with the study, calling the numbers "fantastic news" for the paper. "We're up on weekdays, which is really significant for us," he said. As for Saturday, where the Post saw a substantial drop in readers, "everybody is down," he said.

The Sun, Star and Globe showed Saturday readership declines of 16 per cent, 8 per cent and 7 per cent respectively.

Stéphane Gagné, publisher of the five-year-old Metro, said he was very happy with his paper's 6 per cent increase in weekday readership, especially in the face of competition from 24 Hours, which started up just two years ago.

Metro is a joint venture of Metro International SA and Torstar Corp., which owns the Toronto Star.