Canadians hoping to get their hands on news parody will soon need to look no further than Toronto. The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper, has teamed up with the Onion to distribute the satirical publication and its sister publication, the A.V. Club, beginning in the fall. With the agreement, Toronto will become the 14th city – and the first outside the United States – where the Onion is distributed.
The Onion has been looking for a partner outside the United States for a while, said Mike McAvoy, the paper’s chief operating officer, though negotiations between the Star and the Onion were only recently completed. He said the paper is constantly fielding requests from readers, including those from outside the United States, to distribute a print edition in their cities, and Toronto was a logical choice because it one of the paper’s top 10 cities in terms of Web traffic.
“We’re super excited to launch in Toronto,” Mr. McAvoy said. “It’s just a chance for us to reach people, not just online, but in print.” Though many news outlets are moving away from physical publications, the Onion hopes to tap into Toronto’s young, affluent audience by taking advantage of the Star’s knowledge of the market. “One of the advantages of the bigger media companies is they know how to make money in print,” he said.
Under the agreement, the Star will run the business operations, including selling advertisements and printing the paper, allowing the Onion to focus on content. The Onion will feature the same content as it does in the United States, while the A.V. Club, an entertainment section, will contain local listings. The Onion has about 2 million readers, with about 10 million unique monthly views for both the Onion and the A.V. club online.
The Toronto Star also hopes to use the Onion brand as a way to appeal to younger readers, said Bob Hepburn, a spokesman for the Star. “The Star’s been interested in moving a number of products that we have, going after a younger demographic, and we saw The Onion as a possibility for that,” he said. The Star will also benefit from the agreement because it will take a share of the Onion’s revenue. In accord with standard company policy, Mr. Hepburn would not disclose any financial details of the arrangement. The Star initially plans to distribute 50,000 copies of the Onion weekly at various locations in the city, he said.
In January, The Onion started two television shows on cable news networks, Comedy Central and IFC. And in the past 12 months, the news organization has added six cities including Toronto to its list of distribution outlets with plans to expand into more markets, both within the United States and internationally, according to Mr. McAvoy. “Print is just a great way for us to really expand our marketing platform and to make additional money doing so,” he said. “We have this great content that can live in print.”
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