The Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank) – a tripartite industry organization which each year is charged with the task of providing readership data for 60 daily newspapers across 40 Canadian markets – has found itself in the spotlight more often this fall than at any time in its history.
The unprecedented buzz around NADbank 99 has been amplified by the knockdown, drag-out battle that has raged between Canada’s two national dailies over the past 12 months. And interest in the next survey is no doubt going to grow in the wake of an anomalous 4.5% drop in overall readership in the hotly contested Toronto market.
The unusual readership results in Toronto have prompted NADbank to introduce a new fall study to measure readership in the core and extended market areas of Canada’s largest city.
Telephone interviews will be conducted late September through February, with results expected in early March.
The NADbank survey is typically conducted between January and May, with the results released in early October. However, a third-party review of this year’s data delayed its release until the end of last month.
Over the years, the components and methodology of NADbank have been tweaked and enhanced to reflect the changes and demands of the marketplace.
Launched originally as a telephone-only survey, a mail-in questionnaire has been used since 1998 to collect key data on Canadians’ consumption of products and services in a wide range of categories, as well as on their lifestyle and media habits.
While NADbank is a national study, not all markets receive the same treatment.
Full-sample studies were conducted in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver – meaning these markets used an enhanced questionnaire that included more information on classified ad readership and shopping habits, as well as product and media consumption.
New for 1999 was the small market study, where 13 urban markets with populations under 150,000 had readership and demographic information collected during a 10-minute telephone interview. These markets will be measured every three years.
NADbank uses a rolling sample method, where the information gathered from adults 18-plus is combined with the data from the previous year.
Sample size changes each year, depending on the number of markets participating. The sample size of NADbank 1999 is 31,000.
Weekday Readers 18+
Toronto Extended Market Area
1999 % of Change from 1998
The Toronto Star 1,465,000 +1%
The Toronto Sun 1,011,300 +2%
The Globe and Mail 538,100 -14%
National Post 320,800 n/a
***
Read yesterday
Adults 18+
(16 major markets measured)
NADbank 1999
The Globe and Mail
844,700
The National Post
810,400
***
Read yesterday
Adults 18+
Toronto
NADbank 1999
The Globe and Mail
366,000
The National Post
295,900
Newsmaker: Anne Ruta
Executive Director, NADbank
Background: Ruta took the NADbank reins in September after the departure of Rosanne Caron earlier in the summer. Ruta had been NADbank’s director of client services for two years. She was previously media research manager and associate media director at J. Walter Thompson. Ruta has also served on the technical committees of both the Print Measurement Bureau and Canadian Outdoor Measurement Bureau.
NADbank now has representation from 40 newspapers, 100 ad agencies and 36 advertisers and has made numerous methodological improvements. This year, it broadened its survey to cover 60 daily newspapers in 40 urban markets, representing 92% of total weekly circulation.
On the new NADbank: ‘We aren’t just newspapers anymore; we are a tripartite organization, with (advertising) agencies, advertisers, as well as newspapers,’ she says. ‘With all three on board, [interested parties can] have much more confidence in the whole process.’
