August 2026 Profile

Introduction

Canada’s magazine sector includes consumer and business-to-business (B2B) brands, with content distributed both in print and digitally, via a variety of web and mobile channels. Business models in the magazine industry increasingly incorporate a range of revenue streams beyond traditional subscription and advertising, such as custom publishing, events-based and retail-based revenue generation strategies.

Industry Size and Economic Impact

Note: The following information on revenue, employment and the consumer market should be considered a snapshot of activity in the industry based on the best available information.^[1] All dollar figures are in CAD unless otherwise noted.

Revenues and Related Figures

• According to Statistics Canada, the Canadian periodical publishing sector generated revenues of almost $1,020 billion in 2023, with an operating profit margin of 6.3%.^[2] For its part, Ontario represented approximately 63% of all operating revenues in 2023 ($645 million), and the provincial operating profit margin was 6.3%.^[3]
• Ontario’s periodical publishing industry contributed $461 million to Ontario’s GDP in 2023.^[4]
• Broadly, revenues from the periodical publishing sector have been declining for a number of years. From the period of 2013-2023, national operating revenues have declined by 42%, from $1.48 billion to $838 million.^[5]
• According to PwC, the consumer print magazine segment of the Canadian marketplace has been in decline since 2020, with revenues declining at an average rate of -4% per year, and are anticipated to continue to decline, at -1.95% CAGR through to 2029.^[6]
• While not sufficient to compensate for the decline in consumer print revenues, consumer digital magazines are expected to reach $224 million USD in revenues by 2029 and grow at a 1.19% CAGR.^[7] As a result, the total consumer magazine market is predicted to decline to $606 million USD by 2029, a CAGR of -1.24%.^[8]
• Ontario periodical international exports have been on a decreasing trend for the last five years, and in 2023 accounted for over $69 million.^[9] Ontario remains the leader of international periodical exports and accounts for over 70% of Canadian periodical export revenues.^[10]
• Advertising remains the most important revenue source for Canadian magazine publishers. In 2023, advertising revenue accounted for 57% of all sales by Canadian magazine publishers, followed by circulation sales (41%), and custom publishing (2%).^[11]
• Revenues follow similar trends for Ontario magazine publishers. Of the total $478 million in sales revenues generated by Ontario magazine publishers, $260.2 million (54%) came from sales of advertising, $217.8 (46%) million from circulation sales.^[12]
• Broadly, however, the revenues generated from advertising, circulation and custom publishing have declined by 36% at the national level over the period of 2015-2023.^[13] For Ontario magazine publishers, revenues from these same sources have declined by 31% over the same period. Specifically, advertising revenues declined by 38% while circulation revenues declined by 21%.^[14]
• For both Canada and Ontario in 2023, advertising was the largest source of sales revenues attributed to digital products, with 57% and 50% respectively.^[15]
• In 2023, sales of controlled or requested circulation accounted for 42% of print circulation revenues in Canada (54.3% in Ontario), followed by paid subscriptions (24.4% in Canada, 21.7% in Ontario), followed by free or promotional copies (22.4% in Canada, 17.5% in Ontario), and newsstand (10.8% in Canada, 6.5% in Ontario).^[16]
• Across Canada, print circulation by channel of distribution has remained relatively steady from 2021 to 2023, as well as in Ontario. The largest increase nationally was free, complimentary or promotional copies which rose 1.5%, while the largest decrease came from newsstand and other copies sold which declined by 2.^[17]
• The majority of magazine titles published in both Canada (72%) and Ontario (73%) are consumer magazines. For its part, B2B, trade and professional magazines represented approximately 28% of the titles published in Canada, and 27% of the titles published in Ontario.^[18]The share of B2B titles is growing in Canada and Ontario, where there has been an over 10% increase from 2017 to 2023.^[19]
• The majority (63%) of magazine titles published in Canada in 2023 were distributed both in physical and digital formats. Print-only titles accounted for 27.5% of all published titles, followed by digital-only titles at 9.5% of the market.^[20]

Employment and Wages

• In 2023, Ontario’s periodical publishing industry accounted for 3,895 jobs, up 3.54% from 2022.^[21] Between 2021 and 2023, the total number of jobs in Ontario fell by 4.58%.^[22]
• In 2023, the Ontario periodical publishing industry spent over $247 million on salaries, wages, commissions and benefits. This marks a 33% decrease from $369 million in 2013.^[23]
• According to Magazines Canada, on average, every $75,000 in lost revenue at a Canadian magazine publishers will cost 1 job.^[24]

Consumer Market

• According to recent data collected by Vividata, magazines reach 79% of adults in Ontario and Quebec.^[25] On average, 65% of adults access a print or digital magazine on a monthly basis.^[26]
• In Canada, digital magazines are most commonly accessed via smartphones (22%), and that percentage increases to 44% for individuals under 35 and 57% for newcomers.^[27] Meanwhile, 42% of magazine readers only read the print version, while 17% do so in combination with more than one digital device.^[28] Notably, readers under 55 mainly access digital magazine content indirectly, though search or social media links.^[29]
• According to the Association of Magazine Media’s Factbook 2025, 86% of U.S. adults have read a magazine in the last six months (print and digital editions), as have 89% of adults under the age of 25.^[30]
• American magazine readership is diverse as 85% of white adults, 86% of Hispanic adults, 87% of Black adults, 90% of Asian-American adults, and 90% of LGBT adults have read at least one magazine in the past six months.^[31]
• Magazine advertising is still very influential as research has found that 8 out of 10 magazine readers who see an ad act upon it, which can range from looking up more information about the product, cutting out the ad, visiting a website or recommending the product.^[32]
• Data has shown that magazine readers disproportionately deemed “super-influencers,”, individuals who are trusted by their communities and influence others’ purchases.^[33]

• 28% (10.1 million) of Canadians over the age of 14 read magazines in a given week.^[34]
• The average magazine reader will spend 2.4 hours reading print and 2.4 hours reading digital magazines.^[35]
• As of early 2026, the downward trend of print and the increasing use of digital magazines continues to hold true per Vividata. The reach of print magazines declined from 6.7 million in 2025 to 6.6 million in 2026, and time spent dropped from 9.1 hours to 9. On the other hand, digital readership increased 200,000 to 7 million and time spent rose from 11.9 hours to 13.4.^[36]
• Looking at consumption methods, Canadians under 25 access magazine content in both print and digital versions, though only 8% report reading print only. 62% of the 25-34 demographics consume both print and digital magazines, with 7% reading solely print. Unsurprisingly, older demographics are more likely to only read print magazines with 24% of 50-to 64-year-olds and 35% of 65-plus year-old Canadians.^[37]
• The most popular magazine categories in Canada are food/recipe, travel/tourism, health home décor and technology/science. In English Canada, health and fitness titles are in the top five, while in French Canada, fashion/beauty magazines are included.^[38]

Trends and Issues

Some of the current key trends in the magazine publishing industry are ongoing discussions of print vs. digital media, new methods to engage readers, subscription models, environmental sustainability, and diversity.

Growth Rate and Industry Trends

• Globally, total consumer magazine revenues will decline at a -2.4% CAGR to $45.3 billion USD by 2028.^[39]PwC explains that the consumer magazine market is following a similar pattern to newspapers as print revenues continue to shrink, mostly from advertising revenues. While digital advertising and circulation are both growing revenue sources, it isn’t enough to offset the decline in print.^[40]

• PwC explains that for many magazine publishers, print is just one portion of a brand, which acts as a gateway for other content being offered through social media, e-commerce, interactive content and audio/video content.^[41] Some have even expanded into offline reach such as Vogue and Elle magazines which offer memberships which allow subscribers priority access to events, discounts and gifts.^[42] Print however still continues to be popular with the luxury/fashion sector as well as with niche titles, with some preferring it due to “digital fatigue”.^[43]
• Other publishers have looked to diversify their revenue streams in the digital world by creating branded video content, affiliate advertising and incentives on price-comparison websites used by shoppers.^[44]

• In terms of the use of AI, PWC notes that some publishers have begun to use generative tools to help structure the basics of articles and layouts before being reviewed by humans.^[45]

• A new report released in the spring of 2026 examined the use of AI across the North American book publishing industry. It found that the top three areas where it was being implemented were administrative/operational tasks, marketing activities and data analysis.^[46] Regarding concerns, 86% of respondents felt that there are insufficient restraints around the use of copywritten materials.^[47]

• In Canada, PWC estimates that the consumer magazine revenues will continue to decline at -1.25% CAGR to $606 million USD by 2029. Currently revenues for 2025 are at $634 million USD.^[48] It also expects that only digital magazine sectors to grow, with an increase of 1.2% CAGR for digital ad revenues and an increase of 2.8% CAGR for digital circulation revenues.^[49]

• Electronic magazines, eMagazines, have seen great growth rate over the last number of years from libraries. In Toronto, the Toronto Public Library noted that in 2023, eMagazines were the electronic format that saw the strongest gains from 2023 with an increase of 60.7%.^[50] The library’s use of OverDrive, which allows an easy checkout experience, and subscriptions to magazines have accounted for 98% of eMagazine checkouts.^[51]

• In 2024 The Literary Magazines Canada Collective conducted a study to assess the current stats of the literary magazine sector in Canada. Literary Magazines publish around 3,000-4,000 authors per year and pay $250,000-$500,00 in contributor fees to those authors.^[52] Most literary magazines work with small budgets and over half of the magazines have annual revenues of $0 to $15,000.^[53] Regarding staffing, 80% of literary magazine respondents did not have full-time paid staff.^[54]

Global and Domestic Issues

• Strategic partnerships have shown themselves to be successful as means of attaching a strong audience to established brands. In the spring of 2025, National Bank and Elle partnered to launch a new micro-magazine focused on women’s financial empowerment. The launch included a full marketing campaign with social media activations, collaborations and digital content.^[55] This follows a campaign from earlier in 2025 which saw L’actualité announce a partnership with KO Média. The initiative plans to create special magazine issues which will offer targeted advertising, as well as offering advertisers a new avenue to reach consumers.^[56]

• Canada Post labour disruptions in in 2024 and 2025 caused great pains for subscription-based businesses. Publications had to deal with late delivery of issues, suspending printing certain editions based on strike actions as well as late payments as many advertisers pay by cheque.^[57] As of January 2026, Canada Post and CUPW have finalized their tentative agreements, which will be in place until January 31, 2029.^[58]

• The rise of AI tools has affected the magazine industry as well as the publishing industry. In January 2026, The Canadian Magazine Coalition launched a study learn how Canadian magazine publishers perceive the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on their day-to-day work and on the future of magazine publishing.^[59]

• The potential treat of US Tariffs, Magazines Canada released the results of a survey looking into the anticipated results of US tariffs on the magazine industry. The primary concerns from respondents were the potential of increased printing costs, loss of advertising revenues and reduced subscriptions.^[60] When exploring the financial impact, depending on the size of the publication, potential losses ranged from $250,000 to $2.7 million.^[61] Many respondents also commented on domestic challenges such as Canadian postal rates and varying recycling fees by province.^[62]

• Mergers and acquisitions continue to be a trend in the magazine publishing industry. In December 2025 another Ontario magazine, Azure, an architecture and design magazine, founded in 1985 was purchased by the American Sandow Design Group.^[63]

• In March 2026, the Canadian Magazine Coalition has created a memoire that advocates to the federal government to guarantee a portion of its annual advertising to be allocated to Canadian owned print and digital magazines^[64]

Government Support

• The Canada Periodical Fund (CPF), administered by the Department of Canadian Heritage (DCH), offers funding to eligible magazine publishers for content creation, distribution, online activities, and business development. It also provides support for business innovation projects and collective initiatives that strengthen the Canadian magazine sector. The Fund also includes a Special Measures for Journalism stream that provides financial support for eligible Canadian print or digital magazine publishers operating with a free circulation model or low levels of paid circulation to help them overcome market challenges.
• Ontario magazine publishers currently have access to public funding through the Ontario Creates Publishing Marketing & Discoverability Fund. Ontario Creates also provides funding to trade and event organizations in the province’s magazine sector through the Industry Development Program for events and activities that stimulate the growth of the industry. Some magazine publishers may be eligible for the Ontario Creates Enterprise Fund which supports entrepreneurial business development activities that could lead to significant company growth, specifically in terms of revenues, size, global impact, and job creation.

Industry Recognition

• Ontario magazines were well-represented at the 2025 National Magazine Awards. Among these were Literary Review of Canada which won a Gold award and The Walrus which won a silver.

• At the 2025 NMA: B2B awards, Azure Magazine  won three awards (two Gold) while Precedent received a Gold award.

• On April 14th 2026 Magazines Canada and Exact Editions have partnered to create a showcase of Canada’s magazine publishing industry. The showcase allows for a selection of 60 issues from Magazines Canada members to be freely available to read in on Exact Editions’ digital platform.^[65]

Profile current as of August 1, 2026

Endnotes