A recent study revealed 85 percent of people in Rainy River District read the Fort Frances Times, and 70 percent read the Daily Bulletin, while only 31 percent read any daily newspaper like the Winnipeg Free Press or the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal.
The same study showed a similar trend across Canada: the majority of Canadians get their news from their local community newspapers as opposed to the larger daily papers.
ComBase—a Vancouver-based company—surveyed 24,000 readers of 800 publications in more than 400 markets across Canada over a one-year period.
“This ComBase study was the first of its kind done in Canada, or anywhere in the world,” said Jim Cumming, publisher of the Fort Frances Times and chairman of the board for the Canadian Community Newspapers Association.
“The most significant finding was how strong the readership of Canadian community newspapers was,” noted ComBase president Elena Dunn.
Of those surveyed across the country, 69 percent said they read the last issue of their community newspaper while 47 percent read a daily paper from the previous day.
The gap was even wider in the Prairie provinces. In Saskatchewan, 78 percent said they read their last community paper while only 37 percent read the most recent daily paper.
British Columbia had the highest overall readership of community papers, with 79 percent of respondents having read the last issue, while 63 percent had read the last daily.
“Community newspapers are the grassroots media that have the vital things that are important to their readers—education, community teams, churches, kids’ activities,” said Cumming.
“All of these things that affect their everyday lives, community papers cover it.”
The figures are similar in Rainy River, where the Rainy River Record is read by 61 percent of the population while only 13 percent read a daily paper.
Only seven percent of people surveyed in Rainy River read the Winnipeg Free Press on Saturday, and even less—three percent—read it during the week.
The Chronicle Journal fared worse in Rainy River, with six percent of people surveyed reading it on Saturday and only two percent reading it during the week.
In the Times’ distribution area, 17 percent of those surveyed read the Free Press on Saturday and only seven percent during the week. The Chronicle Journal fared a little better, with 18 percent reading it on Saturday and 13 percent during the week.
The survey also showed people who read community newspapers tend to be educated professionals.
For example, 90 percent of respondents in the district who make between $50,000-$74,000 annually read the Fort Frances Times, compared to 73 percent of respondents who earn under $30,000.
Ninety-four percent of people surveyed with a university degree read the Times while 73 percent of those with a high school education or less read the paper.
“That dispelled the myth that community papers were bought by those who couldn’t afford a daily,” Dunn said.
Age also was a significant factor, with 97 percent of people surveyed aged 40 or over reading the Times versus 72 percent of those under 40 who read it.
In Rainy River, 66 percent of respondents aged 40 or above read the Record while 35 percent of those under 40 read it.
The purpose of the study is not only to show individual papers how much they are read in their communities, but also to show advertisers where to reach their prospective customers.
“It’s going to make a great deal of difference in how much advertising we get,” Dunn said.
While many national companies have tended to advertise only in major daily newspapers, the results of this study show they actually will reach more people by advertising in community papers.
“They need to augment with a community newspaper ad, at least,” Dunn said.
“I expect to see some significant advertising revenue shifts, and I expect to see it fairly quickly,” she added.
Dunn said she and other members of ComBase recently presented their study to the International Print Symposium in Boston.
“The study was very favourably received,” she said. “It was obvious that no other country in the world is doing anything nearly as ambitious as this.
“We were applauded for even attempting it.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
