JasonParis
Moderator
Free daily t.o.night to launch in September
by Melita Kuburas
A new daily publication targeting afternoon and evening rush hour commuters will launch in Toronto on Sept. 8. Known as t.o.night, the daily will have an initial print run of 100,000 copies and be distributed between 3:30 and 6:30 pm at public transit stations. A portion of the copies will be handed out by paper boys and girls, dressed in poorboy caps and white oxford shirts yelling "Extra! Extra!" in order to attract more attention to the headlines and the brand, explains John Cameron, managing director, t.o.night.
"Because the majority of our news is provided by the newswires, we don't have to have that staff that newspapers have. And so it allows us to be a much more lean operation and to be frank that's what you have to be these days," Cameron tells MiC, adding that he estimates the paper's staff to be under 20 people.
t.o.night will take content from Canadian Press and local blogs such as Blog T.O., says Cameron. It will have an editorial focus on news, entertainment and to-do lists, laid out on magazine paper (38-lb lightweight coated, 8 ½ by 10 ½). "Transit riders can hold it in one hand. They can hold the subway pole and read it at the same time," says Cameron. "For advertisers they love it too because their ads just pop."
"I think that it's a really good idea because people are not doing anything when they're on the subway for that 20 minutes," says Brenda Bookbinder, VP print director, PHD. "But those things sometimes can be a challenge," she says.
Bookbinder has concerns that it is a very local distribution that national clients may not want to take advantage of - yet. "Our advertising dollars are pretty tight now. With a lot of global clients the budgets have been cut back a little bit and so the planners have to be very careful about where they're spending their money. With this being a unproven venture, and certainly with the fact that it was already tried with the Toronto Star, albeit as an email that was sent to people, it just didn't take off in the way that the papers did in the morning," she tells MiC.
St. Joseph Print is an equity investor and also the printer of the publication, and the other major investor is Richard White, head of Blackburn Radio. (To clarify, Cameron explains St. Joseph media division is not involved in the paper, and it's a holding company of White's that is investing, not Blackburn Radio).
Cameron was inspired to launch a free evening daily after his travels to England and Australia, where similar publications exist. With an editorial deadline of 11 am, Cameron says they'll be able to capture all the key news missed by their free daily competitors like Metro and 24.
But Metro has experimented with an afternoon edition in Europe and the concept failed, says Bill McDonald, group publisher, Metro English Canada.
by Melita Kuburas
A new daily publication targeting afternoon and evening rush hour commuters will launch in Toronto on Sept. 8. Known as t.o.night, the daily will have an initial print run of 100,000 copies and be distributed between 3:30 and 6:30 pm at public transit stations. A portion of the copies will be handed out by paper boys and girls, dressed in poorboy caps and white oxford shirts yelling "Extra! Extra!" in order to attract more attention to the headlines and the brand, explains John Cameron, managing director, t.o.night.
"Because the majority of our news is provided by the newswires, we don't have to have that staff that newspapers have. And so it allows us to be a much more lean operation and to be frank that's what you have to be these days," Cameron tells MiC, adding that he estimates the paper's staff to be under 20 people.
t.o.night will take content from Canadian Press and local blogs such as Blog T.O., says Cameron. It will have an editorial focus on news, entertainment and to-do lists, laid out on magazine paper (38-lb lightweight coated, 8 ½ by 10 ½). "Transit riders can hold it in one hand. They can hold the subway pole and read it at the same time," says Cameron. "For advertisers they love it too because their ads just pop."
"I think that it's a really good idea because people are not doing anything when they're on the subway for that 20 minutes," says Brenda Bookbinder, VP print director, PHD. "But those things sometimes can be a challenge," she says.
Bookbinder has concerns that it is a very local distribution that national clients may not want to take advantage of - yet. "Our advertising dollars are pretty tight now. With a lot of global clients the budgets have been cut back a little bit and so the planners have to be very careful about where they're spending their money. With this being a unproven venture, and certainly with the fact that it was already tried with the Toronto Star, albeit as an email that was sent to people, it just didn't take off in the way that the papers did in the morning," she tells MiC.
St. Joseph Print is an equity investor and also the printer of the publication, and the other major investor is Richard White, head of Blackburn Radio. (To clarify, Cameron explains St. Joseph media division is not involved in the paper, and it's a holding company of White's that is investing, not Blackburn Radio).
Cameron was inspired to launch a free evening daily after his travels to England and Australia, where similar publications exist. With an editorial deadline of 11 am, Cameron says they'll be able to capture all the key news missed by their free daily competitors like Metro and 24.
But Metro has experimented with an afternoon edition in Europe and the concept failed, says Bill McDonald, group publisher, Metro English Canada.