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Metroland Media Group

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Metroland Media Group
Company typeDivision
IndustryPublishing
FoundedFebruary 1981 (merger of Metrospan Community Newspapers and Inland Publishing Company)
Headquarters3715 Laird Road, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Key people
Ian Oliver - President
ProductsNewspapers, websites, commercial printing, online marketing
ParentTorstar Corporation
Websitewww.metroland.com

Metroland Media Group (also known as Community Brands), is a large media, publishing and distribution company operating in the southern part of the Canadian province of Ontario. It publishes more than 80 local newspapers.[1] Six of these are daily papers, and the rest are weekly community newspapers. Metroland has a substantial market presence in its geographic area, but has considerable competition from other large media and publishing organisations. In addition to printing most of its own publications, Metroland is a commercial printer of flyers and magazines. Metroland Media Group is owned by Torstar Corporation of Toronto, which also owns the Toronto Star newspaper.

History

Metroland is the publisher of six daily and more than 80 community newspapers in Southern Ontario.[1] Metroland also publishes local news, classified and shopping websites, and operates nine printing operations. The company is a distributor of flyers and circulars. It produces specialty print products, magazines and newspaper inserts, which are geared toward specific market segments. Metroland produces and manages a handful of consumer shows.[2]

In February 1981, Metrospan Community Newspapers (a unit of Torstar) and Inland Publishing Company (formerly owned by The Telegram Corporation, owned by the Eaton and Bassett families) merged to become Metroland.[3][4]

Metroland Publishing was combined with CityMedia Group to create Metroland Media Group on September 11, 2006.[5] It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation.[6] In October 2011, it was announced that Metroland acquired Performance Printing of Smiths Falls, Ontario.[7] The acquisition greatly expanded Metroland’s community newspaper coverage in Eastern Ontario.[8]

In 2013, the company cut the frequency of three Toronto suburban newspapers, Scarborough Mirror, North York Mirror and Etobicoke Guardian, from twice a week to once a week.[9]

Business areas

Metroland's regional and specialized business units can be grouped into five categories: Newspapers, Printing, Distribution, Digital Media, and Consumer Marketing.

Distribution

Metroland maintains a distribution network separate from the Canada Post. The total number of pieces distributed annually has increased substantially to more than 4 billion in 2014. There are 20,000 delivery persons province-wide performing door-to-door delivery of flyers, papers and print materials.

Digital media

Metroland Media entered into digital media and the internet with the migration of their community newspaper sites online in the mid 1990s. Subsequently, Metroland has built or acquired numerous online properties including WagJag, a group-buy deals site; save.ca, a website offering coupons and flyers; and gottarent.com, a Canadian apartment rentals listing site.

Metroland’s 39 community and daily newspaper sites are located in cities and regions across south and central Ontario:

  • Brampton Guardian
  • Brant News (Brantford and area)
  • Caledon Enterprise
  • Cambridge Times
  • Durham Region (Oshawa, Whitby, Pickering, Ajax, Clarington, Port Perry, Uxbridge)
  • Flamborough Review
  • Guelph Mercury
  • Guelph Tribune
  • Hamilton Community News (Ancaster, Dundas, Hamilton Mountain, Stoney Creek)
  • Inside Belleville (Belleville, Brighton, Hastings, Quinte West)
  • Inside Brockville
  • Inside Halton (Burlington, Milton, Oakville)
  • Inside Ottawa Valley (Kemptville, Renfrew, Smiths Falls)
  • Inside Toronto (City Centre Post, East York Mirror, Etobicoke Guardian - as Advertiser c. 1917, North York Mirror, Scarborough Mirror, York Guardian)
  • Kingston Region (Frontenac, Kingston)
  • Kitchener Post
  • Markham Economist and Sun
  • Mississauga News
  • Muskoka Region (Bracebridge, Gravenhurst and Huntsville)
  • Kawartha Lakes This Week (Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes and Brock Township)
  • New Hamburg Independent
  • Niagara This Week (Niagara Region, including St. Catharines and Thorold)
  • Norfolk News (Norfolk County, including Simcoe and Port Dover)
  • North Bay Nipissing News (North Bay and Almaguin)
  • Northumberland News (Northumberland County, including Port Hope and Cobourg)
  • Orangeville Banner
  • Ottawa Community News (Kanata, Nepean, Ottawa, Stittsville)
  • Our London
  • Our Perth (Stratford, St Marys, Listowel)
  • Our Windsor
  • Parry Sound
  • Sachem & Glanbrook Gazette (Haldimand, including Glanbrook and Dunnville)
  • Simcoe (Simcoe County, including Barrie, Orillia, Alliston, Stayner/Wasaga)
  • Southwestern Ontario (Arthur, Exeter, Minto, Mount Forest, Wingham, Walkerton)
  • The IFP (Georgetown, Acton)
  • The Record (Waterloo Region, including Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge)
  • The Hamilton Spectator
  • The Weekly News (St. Thomas and Elgin County)
  • Waterloo Chronicle
  • York Region (York Region, including Aurora, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, King, Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Stouffville, Thornhill, Vaughan)

Printing

Metroland Media owns six printing plants in Ontario. The presses print Metroland Media's newspapers but also provide commercial printing to other clients. The combined print capacity of these print facilities is reported as more than 16 million tabloid pages per hour in full colour, approximating 250,000 newspapers per hour.[10]

Newspapers

Metroland publishes over 80 local and community newspapers.[1] Six of these are daily newspapers:

Magazines

Metroland publishes dozens of magazines and specialty product titles. The general areas of interest these magazines focus on include lifestyle, leisure, parenting and transportation themes.

Consumer marketing

Digital marketing production

Expansion into customer fulfilment led to creation of a Metroland Digital division in 2008 to provide SMBs (small-to-medium businesses) with full-service online marketing capabilities such as fully custom websites, e-commerce websites, paid search (like Google Adwords), search engine optimization (SEO) as well as social media marketing and display advertising.

Consumer shows

Metroland produces consumer shows in Toronto for specialty audiences for Metroland Media Group publications. Metroland produces several consumer shows and exhibitions including the Toronto Golf & Travel Show, the National Bridal Show, the Forever Young Lifestyle Show, the City Parent Family Show and numerous local area shows.

Competition

Other large media and publishing companies in the area are also engaged in convergence of their printing and digital activities, and constitute the primary market competition for Metroland in the region. Among these are Rogers Media, Transcontinental Media, and Quebecor.

Awards

Metroland Media publications have been recognized with Local Media Association awards such as (2013):

  • Journalist of the Year - All Classes Combined[11]
  • Top Company Winners (92)
  • Top Newspaper Winners (14)

References

  1. ^ a b c "About MetrolandMedia". www.metroland.com. Metroland Media Group Ltd. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  2. ^ "Shows". Metroland.com. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  3. ^ "Sold Weeklies To Pursue Broadcasting, Kent Inquiry Told". The Gazette. Montreal. March 19, 1981. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  4. ^ "Milestones". Metroland. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  5. ^ "2006 Archives - TORSTAR CORPORATION". Torstar.com. 2006-09-11. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  6. ^ "Businesses - TORSTAR CORPORATION". Torstar.com. 2014-05-13. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  7. ^ "Performance Printing purchased by Metroland". OCNA. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  8. ^ "CAJ fears job losses for community newspaper journalists on the horizon". The Canadian Association of Journalists. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  9. ^ "Revised publishing schedule for three Metroland papers". Newspapers Canada. September 25, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  10. ^ http://www.kba.com/us/news/detail/article/on-the-cutting-edge-of-print/page/65/back/7/
  11. ^ http://www.suburban-news.org/Contests/Editorial.aspx
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