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Dose halts printing, moves to offer more online and via mobile

The year-old, multi-platform Dose (a property of CanWest MediaWorks) has ceased production of its daily print format and is moving instead into a more comprehensive online service and increasing its wireless content offerings. When asked for comment, Hugh Dow, president of M2 Universal in Toronto says the lack of significant advertising was a big clue. "We speculated it to change [its format] to a weekly instead of a daily. That was viewed as more likely and this was not expected and is certainly more drastic." Dow says that the paper faced significant competition in the markets where it was offered.

As a result of the change, dose.ca will become the youth channel of the Canada.com network. Perhaps it's a sign of the times for Dose's 18-34 demo. While there has been a lack of advertisers for its print property, dose.ca has gained significantly online. Comscore MediaMetrix reports that monthly uniques number more than 160,000 and a survey done by Ipsos-Reid finds that dose.ca visitors are visiting frequently and spending a lot of time on the site. Dow agreed with the strategy to move Dose online. "Without question the digital arena is a considerable avenue of growth. It's certainly a priority for us."

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