The operating revenue of Canadian newspaper publishers declined to $2.1 billion in 2020, down 21.9% from 2018, when the survey was last conducted. While newspaper publishers have experienced declining revenues over several years, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated many trends that are transforming the industry.
Demand for advertising—especially print advertising—fell as many businesses closed or reduced activities during the pandemic. While the newspaper industry earned $1.5 billion in revenue from advertising sales in 2018, this figure dropped to $934.3 million in 2020. In 2018, advertising revenues accounted for 59.7% of the industry's overall sales, but by 2020 the share of advertising sales decreased to 51.9% of total sales.
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Prior to the pandemic, the industry had already been transitioning toward increased reliance on digital advertising and digital circulation sales. From 2016 to 2018, newspapers saw a 23.9% decrease in print advertising sales, but over the 2018-to-2020 period, the decline in print advertising was more pronounced (-45.2%).
Circulation sales also declined in 2020, although to a lesser extent than advertising sales. From 2018 to 2020, circulation sales decreased from $645.0 million to $596.8 million (-7.5%). While circulation sales for print newspapers were down by 12.0% over this period, circulation sales for digital newspapers increased by 43.6%. In spite of the increase, digital circulation still accounted for a small share of circulation sales overall (12.5%).