Brandon Sun ranks high in new study

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This article was published 07/11/2020 (1971 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Sun has one of the most engaged subscriber bases among Canadian newspapers, according to the results of a new study.

Toronto-based non-profit research company Vividata’s Fall 2020 readership study shows that Sun ranks third overall in combined print and digital readership when compared to other Canadian newspapers and their products.

The study, which included 64 newspapers across the country, measures what percentage of a region engages with newspapers’ digital and print editions, breaking down results into four categories. Approximately 32,000 people were polled nationwide for the study, including 222 in Brandon.

Other papers in the study include the Winnipeg Free Press, the Toronto Star, the National Post and The Globe and Mail.

From Monday to Friday, approximately 51 per cent of people in the Brandon area engage with the Sun’s daily online and print editions. That’s good for third in the country, only behind The Guardian in Charlottetown, P.E.I. and the Cape Breton Post in Nova Scotia.

“If we go back to, for example, the same period last year, Fall 2019, for the same metric the Brandon Sun was at the seventh spot,” said Vividata’s director of insights, Rahul Sethi. “With this release, it’s jumped up to number three.”

Contributing to that increase was an uptick in the percentage of people accessing the Sun’s digital product, he said.

Approximately 27,000 people read the Sun every day, 22,000 read the Sun on Saturdays and 43,000 people read the Sun’s print and digital content every week.

Every week, approximately 57 per cent of people in the region engage with the Sun’s print editions. The Sun is ranked second in the country in that regard, only behind the Cape Breton Post.

With 49 per cent of people in the region engaged with the Sun’s digital content every week, the paper ranks fifth in the nation.

A whopping 81 per cent of locals engage with either the print or digital content produced by the Sun every week, the third-highest in the country.

Sethi told the Sun that the newspaper results are part of a study released quarterly called “the survey of the Canadian consumer”, which looks into media and consumer behaviour across Canada.

He said they use Statistics Canada’s geographic boundaries to define the region each paper serves. According to him, the Sun has also improved its rankings in recent years.

Another finding in the study is that 94 percent of Sun readers tend not to read any other newspapers featured in the study.

“There’s a strong exclusive following within Brandon for the Brandon Sun,” Sethi said.

Nationwide, the study found that three out of five adults read newspapers every week. More and more Canadians are also switching toward digital and mobile news consumption.

Of the newspaper brands measured in the study, 54 per cent have readers accessing their contact on a mobile device. 32 per cent of newspaper readers are now only reading print news and not any other kind.

Brandon Sun publisher Jim Mihaly saw a lot of positives in the study results.

“The independent survey conducted by Vividata parallels what’s happening with Sun’s readership in 2020 and the year prior which has steadily increased,” he said. “Our combined home delivery, single-copy sales, and online subscriptions have all increased with no sign of slowing down. We just added 12 new online subscribers since Nov. 1”

“In addition to the combined digital and print readership at 27,0000, our website also is poised to reach record levels in terms of page views. All and all readership is on the rise at the Brandon Sun, something we are proud of. We are also thankful for the support we have received from the area,” added Mihaly. “We are relevant. We are local. We are proud of what the Sun team has accomplished and are hoping that area businesses that advertise and support social media companies outside our borders can shop local and take notice of what we have to offer.”

» The Brandon Sun