If 90% of Islanders read the Guardian, why is the paper shrinking?

The NADBank study of local newspaper readership says PEI has the highest readership of any city in Canada.

‘Stunning’ 91 per cent of Islanders read the paper, NADbank president says

That flies in the face of North American readership trends which are downward for newspaper readership. Newspapers came in 4th place as a source of news in the latest surveys.

Liars and figure and figures can lie goes the saying. The survey is done by a group controlled by the newspaper association. The results are a public relations campaign.

“Readership tends to be higher in smaller versus larger communities. The highest weekly readership markets are Charlottetown (91%), Cape Breton (91%), Thunder Bay (91%) followed by Peterborough (88%) and Brandon (88%).” NADbank Read – newspaper readership is higher in lower income areas of Canada.

Looking behind the numbers, one third of the readership is online. That means 1/3 of those readers are not paying for the Guardian or reading the printed ads. That explains why the Guardian is so small. The paper was mainly ads and when you drop the ads, the paper is well “paper-thin”.

Most of the content in newspapers is advertising, press releases and filler

The stats also count anyone who might have read the paper during the week. If you are waiting for your car, at the doctor or dentist or in a coffee shop and read the paper, you get counted.

Two weeks ago I was in Halifax. The Halifax Chronicle Herald was about half it’s normal size, despite the rosy NADBank numbers. The word is advertising tanked and the paper looks like its going down a slippery slope.

I scan the Guardian online every day and read the actual paper less than once a month. Saving trees is my excuse.