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## TORONTO STAR 

The Toronto Star is Canada’s pre-eminent newspaper with the largest circulation and readership of any daily in the country and a commanding lead in Canada’s largest and most competitive newspaper market. 

At the Toronto Star we strive to sustain the highest standards of journalistic excellence while thriving as financially strong business. In 2004, we completed our first year of a three-year strategic plan, which focuses on five areas: 

## Investing in editorial excellence 

• A year-long effort resulted in the launch of a new magazine-style Sunday paper early in 2005, complete with a bold new front page design, dominated every week by a striking full-page photograph, many more features and full colour on every page, a first for North American newspapers. 

• Star writers and photographers won five prestigious National Newspaper Awards (NNAs) in 2004. The Star has won 101 NNAs and has been nominated 179 times, the most wins and nominations of any Canadian newspaper. 

## Maintaining strong circulation and readership 

• Star readership remained unrivalled in 2004 with significant growth throughout the year , while its Toronto competitors suffered ongoing losses, according to the Newspaper Audience Databank. The Star continues to have more exclusive readers than all three of the other paid newspapers combined, with the best balance of male and female readers of all the dailies. The Toronto Star also continues to reach more upscale adults, more university educated adults and more business executives in the Greater Toronto Area than the two competing broadsheets combined. With 2.2 million readers every week, no other Canadian newspaper approaches its reach. 

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• The Toronto Star is the circulation leader in Canada’s most competitive newspaper market. Total paid circulation is 454,128 copies Monday through Friday, 656,549 copies on Saturday, and 446,856 copies on Sunday (Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations for the 12 months ended September 30, 2004). 

## Growing advertising revenue 

• The Toronto Star’s strategy of growing advertising line rates at above-market rates was successful in 2004, despite continued discounting by its 

• Concerted effort was made to reduce newsprint usage and waste at the paper’s Vaughan printing facility. Other divisional operating costs remained flat in 2004, and a virtual hiring freeze remained in effect. ii * 

## Expanding beyond ink-on-paper 

• Revenue from the Toronto Star’s Internet properties continued to grow in 2004. EBITDA for both workopolis.com and thestar.com continued to be positive and growing. 

• thestar.com recorded average monthly page views of almost 32 million in 2004, and average monthly unique visitors of 1.7 million. 

## Summary 

The above revenue and cost initiatives resulted in a 1.6 per cent improvement in operating margins in 2004. 

competitors. The Toronto Star leveraged its colour quality and capacity during the year to increase colour revenues and achieve a higher overall line rate. Advertising revenues for 2004 were $327.5 million. 

## Managing costs 

• Operating costs were reduced in 2004 through a voluntary separation program that will reduce staff by 50. The program also facilitated restructuring in several areas, including in Circulation and the newsroom. 

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