The Canadian newspaper industry has not experienced the same sort of economic revolution under way in the United States. Its revenue base, while not necessarily booming, isn't in the decline of its counterpart below the border. Indeed, with a wave of competition from free and niche publications, the daily newspaper has held its own as digital revenue starts to develop.
The Canadian Newspaper Association released data today on the first quarter of 2008. It shows daily newspaper print revenues down 2.8 per cent to about $608.8 million. The declines were more pronounced in eastern Canada; the West still is robust, CNA notes.
Apart from that print revenue, the online advertising piece added $39 million to the total (the methodology for gathering the material changed, so comparables are not available to 2007). What that indicates, of course, is that print revenue is still the overwhelming piece of ad revenue (about 93 or 94 per cent). Circulation revenue declined 1 per cent to about $201 million, so the importance of that stream remains.