City
Toronto Gets a New Free Daily as t.o.night Readies for September Launch
A new free daily called t.o.night will be launching on September 8th marking a milestone for the city as Toronto's first afternoon paper since the folding of the Toronto Telegram in 1971. Unlike competitors 24 Hours and Metro, the commuter-targeted t.o.night will be filled with news, stories and sports scores that afternoon subway riders won't find in the boxes crowding busy downtown intersections. And - not to be overlooked - the new daily will also come complete with a full page of local content created by blogTO.
Not since the rise and fall of Dose has a publication surfaced in the city threatening to shake up the print media landscape. While backed by some investors with print industry ties, t.o.night is an independent media company and come August will be based out of a small office space in Leslieville upstairs from the Curzon bar.
I first met with the team behind t.o.night earlier this year when they approached blogTO and asked to partner with us to help beef up their daily local content - a section based on my conversations with them that promises to be far more interesting, original and comprehensive than the competition who in the last year have all cut staff and resources devoted to covering local news and culture.
As far as local content, t.o.night will put more emphasis on event information, restaurant reviews and other happenings that will allow readers to plan their evenings as they look to unwind after a long day at the office.
This new daily will be published 5 times a week with an initial circulation of 100,000 copies a day; all distributed between 3:30 and 6:30pm near subway stops and other transit touch-points in the downtown core.
Discussion
27 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
-------
. . . Toronto's first afternoon paper since the folding of the Toronto Telegram in 1971. . . . .
-------
The Toronto Star was also an afternoon paper in the
early 1970s. It migrated to an all day paper in the
1980s.
The first edition of the Star would hit the streets
around 11 am.
Print and digital media are still very different and still serve very different purposes.
Someone pulls out their pda (assuming they're not on their cellphone) to look for very specific information. What time Harry Potter is showing and at what theatres for example.
Print is really good at introducing people to information they -weren't- looking for.
So when you're trying to promote local events and culture, a daily paper of its sort is hardly trash.
Print is really good at introducing people to information they -weren't- looking for."
Meet any RSS reader on any smartphone platform.
Newspapers across the city are struggling, many look likely on the verge of collapse and we already have metro and 24 for dailies and eye and now for the more scene driven content.
GEE a free newspaper or pay a monthly fee for a smart phone to read headlines. How's your budget doing?
IN AN ERA of recession and job losses, we should applaud a venture that's giving it a try and going to give us something for free and not charge us by the month to use it.
Lower income people who don't own gizmos are also an audience for a certain kind of advertising.
Not everything needs to be measured on a hipness scale.
Personally I'd rather have the paper newspapers all over the TTC than my paper money all out there to pay for TV, Internet, & hand held.
Sports scores? NO NO NO. Yes, it's cheap (free) filler, but it's of no use to anyone. You can only report scores from games that ended last night, and fully 100% of people who are interested in those games will know the scores by the time of their evening commute. That information is of no use to anyone, so even though it's superficially attractive because it's free to obtain, just don't do it....
handhelds have dynamic content in real time.
Papers decide what you read
Handhelds allow me to decide what to read
Papers come from one news source
Handhelds have several news sources, most are not available in print format.
Yea, I can see the comparison. Apples and oranges. Sorry.
Come and meet new poeple from all the world!
Website: http://www.flyluna.com