Dear Valued Customers: The Landscape is Changing
The Toronto media landscape is definitely changing, with things printed on paper seemingly being most affected.
Not long ago, Torontoist pointed out what appears to be a cutback of distribution of the National Post in the city. Boxes have gone empty for quite some time.
And now it would appear that this may also be the case for the Toronto Star. blogTO reader Carrie M. sent us the above cell phone snap, which delivers some bad news to readers.
Just last week I happened upon the above scene: an advertisement from retail giant Walmart that takes up more than half of the paper's selling surface (you can't even read the headlines!).
Does this suggest desperation on the part of Torstar? That ad would have to be a serious cash cow to warrant covering the paper. Or does Torstar really need the cash flow... so much so that they're willing to sell their front page?
Of course, this might just be premature speculation rearing its head. Or not. We'll see.
In related news, CBC and Globe and Mail are joining CTV in implementing cost cutting measures during the economic downturn. Quebecor is likely to follow suit, one might surmise.
Comments (22)
i heard on the daily show the other night (yes, aside from blogto, it is my only news source)
that newspapers everywhere are experiencing a crunch. thanks to the internet.
the medium is the message. and the message on the net is MORE SOUNDBITES! MORE STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS BLOGS! MORE INSTANTANEOUS NEEDLESS FACTS!!
watch as our society changes. it is fascinating, and scary. I am mostly scared.
not sure what your point is.. it's called a cover wrap.. Toronto star has run this format before.. so did the Globe and the Post..Maclean's, Canadian Business... etc.. if websites allow homepage take over advertising.. and TV stations allow buying out all the commercial minutes in a programme, not sure what's the big deal..Canada is soooo behind in terms of advertising innovation
Forget finance, it really sucks to be a journalism student/grad these days.
I'm sure the abandoned boxes are caused by a number of things - including the economy (reduced ad sales; subscriptions) and the internet (online readers, e-competition) - but I wonder if the steadily worsening quality of the Star has had an impact on its sales.
I rarely read it for that reason.
I finally bought a laptop 2 1/2 years ago and started using the internet daily from home. I don't buy newspapers anymore and I don't read magazines, either. What I save on magazines and newspapers is about what I pay monthly for the internet.
But this way, I can read much more than I could have before.
The Star has those signs on pretty much all of their boxes in and around the King/University area.
I saw those signs on King and Sherbourne, it says something like "the nearest place where you can buy the Toronto Star is..." and it doesn't say where!!
I think the newspaper boxes are being called in to replace the money box. Guess they are getting ready to accept the Amero currency sooner than expected.
What's the big deal? It covers up the part of the newspaper that makes potential customers become actual customers, which simultaneously devalues both the paper and the ad. It's stupid, that's what the big deal is. "Advertising innovation"?
Someone should write "www.thestar.com" on the blank lines.
I don't even really read it for free any more though, the Star has gotten really bad lately and the painful reader comment dumping ground just make it look like a news version of YouTube most days.
In addition to getting the content for free, though, the internet provides more effective free classifieds. I heard this being blamed for a lot of the loss of revenue that bankrupted the Chicago Tribune.
Aspirin also cut into leech sales once upon a time, no tears shed.
It's important when using U.S. sources (like the Daily Show) to note that while Canadian newspapers are not in great shape by any means, they are doing far and above better than their U.S. counterparts. While circulation of both national and metro dailies in the U.S. are plummeting (with ad revenue dropping even quicker), Canadian newspapers (aside from the Post) have held their own relatively, in circulation and ad revenue not dropping nearly as quickly as the U.S.
"What's the big deal? It covers up the part of the newspaper that makes potential customers become actual customers, which simultaneously devalues both the paper and the ad"
really? you have research to support your claims? without advertising and innovative/intrusive advertising, a lot of people will be out of work..including the publisher of this site! you think you can come to blogto for free? get real
I agree with JT up top(*especially the endless needless facts on the net)
When you have such amount of information in your hands, A)You end up wasting time and B) It gives you a headache being on there for too long.
I'm not against information, or being good to our environment, but a newspaper does good in alot of ways. It gives you the news of the day without the headaches and nothing more(*no endless news of silly things you dont need to know about) It also "slows people down". We're becoming a go-go society that it more stressed and more ill.
Again, i'm not against technology, just technology that's superfulous.
Chris Orbz is/was a writer for BlogTO, so he may have a pretty good idea of how advertising works on this site. (Not that I would expect you to be informed about things like this.)
well, from what i can tell... this site is sometimes making "real content", "advertorial", and advertising quite blurry, esp when it comes to restaurants, entertainment and shopping.. but no one has raised the issue of credibility, etc
I don't think that's a fair assessment Jack but I'd be interested to know what posts you think we've made that aren't "real content". We have a 100% separation between church and state. All the posts are genuine and we do not offer any advertorial opportunities. Our advertising is strictly reserved for banner ads or sponsorship and is always labeled as such.
Tim, i am reading it as a regular consumer, not someone in the ad business.. when I read about a review of a restaurant or shopping deal, as a regular consumer.. I wouldn't know if it's paid or you got a free meal out of the restaurants review..
The Toronto Star box at my bus stop at work in Scarborough also has the same blank message on it. Where is the closest Star box? I don't know.
Sad thing, it was always empty. So either people were always stealing all of them or actually READING/BUYING wasn't enough.
I suspect that's because so many other sites and local publications have such shady practices when it comes to featuring local stores and restaurants that some of us have become conditioned to be skeptical and suspect that all sites/pubs blur the lines between editorial and advertising. Well, not us.
Ironic that Torontoist is chronicling the decline in newspapers just as it is about to announce its own demise.
Haha ban the internet. :) (Stays on for 4 more hours watching videos on youtube..ho hum)
I wondered sometimes why sometimes I would pick up the Metro and it would be quite thinner then usual days? Maybe some of these reasons perhaps. :)
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