Back in the 1970s, there was a popular joke that went “what’s black and white and ‘red’ all over?”
The answer: “the newspaper!”
Today, of course, more and more Canadians are getting their newspaper online and fewer are getting it delivered to their door in print.
In 2020, the operating revenue of Canadian newspaper publishers fell by over one-fifth compared with two years earlier to $2.1 billion. Demand for advertising—especially print advertising—fell as many businesses closed or reduced activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Revenue from advertising sales fell by over one-third compared with 2018 to $934.3 million in 2020, accounting for just over half of total sales.
While circulation sales for print newspapers were down 12.0% to $522.0 million, circulation sales for digital newspapers increased 43.6% to $74.8 million. Nevertheless, digital sales still lag behind print newspapers by a wide margin, accounting for one-eighth of circulation sales overall in 2020.
Government measures were put in place in 2019 to help newspaper publishers, notably the Canadian journalism labour tax credit, which reimburses a portion of salary costs for eligible employees belonging to qualified Canadian journalism organizations.
Quebec also introduced a labour tax credit that provides additional support to the federal program.
Other existing programs include the Canada Periodical Fund and the Local Journalism Initiative.
Like many other industries, newspaper publishers across the country also tapped into the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy during the pandemic.
Quebec newspapers had the highest operating profit margin nationally (+11.7%), bouncing back from a 6.5% loss observed two years earlier.
The sole region in Canada where newspaper publishers were in the red in 2020 was Atlantic Canada (-0.3%).
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).