TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 29, 2012) - The Toronto Star has bolstered its position as the most-read newspaper in Canada and the most-visited newspaper website in the Greater Toronto Area, according to the latest newspaper readership study released today by the Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank).
Indeed, the new survey shows the Star now has more than 1 million weekday readers, marking the first time since 2004 that readership has been so high.
Total weekday readership stands at 1,007,600, an increase of 4.0 per cent, according to the NADbank survey, which measures full-year 2011 readership results.
The survey also shows the Star's combined print and online readership within the Greater Toronto Area held steady, with a total weekly readership of about 2.3 million adults. The results are more than twice as large as any other newspaper in the GTA.
"We are enthusiastic about these results," said John Cruickshank, Publisher of the Toronto Star and President of Star Media Group. "They show that a growing number of our readers value the work we do, both in print and online. While many other metropolitan newspapers across North America are seeing major declines in their readership, these results show we are providing news and information that readers want and meet the needs of our advertisers as well."
In the NADbank 2011 survey, the Star reached 1.18 million readers on Saturday and 746,000 readers on Sunday. According to the survey, the cumulative seven-day readership of the Star remains over 2 million.
The second-most read paper in the GTA is Metro Toronto, the free newspaper that is majority-owned by Star Media Group.
Overall, readership of newspapers in the Greater Toronto Area rose by 1.1 per cent in 2011 from the previous survey.
The NADbank results also show that thestar.com is by far the most popular newspaper website for readers in the GTA, with 742,300 visitors a week.
Together, the Star's print and online products reach 50 per cent of the Greater Toronto Area's adult audience each week.
About the Toronto Star and thestar.com
The Toronto Star, founded in 1892, is read in print and online (thestar.com) by 3.0 million readers. The Toronto Star is a division of Star Media Group, which includes Toronto.com, Torstar Syndication Services, The Grid city magazine, The Canadian Immigrant and Sway magazine. Star Media Group also includes the majority-owned Metro free daily newspapers in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Winnipeg and London, and the jointly-owned Chinese language daily newspaper Sing Tao. Star Media Group is a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, which is a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation.
Contact Information:
Bob Hepburn
Director, Community Relations and Communications
(416) 869-4947
bhepburn@thestar.ca