BCBusiness

12 BCBusiness AUGUST 2015 a decline in the number of ads but not in ad revenue." And in an age of shuttered papers and wafer-thin margins, that's noth- ing to sco" at. Consider a recent PwC report, which estimated that newspaper revenue in Canada would decline 20 per cent between 2013 and 2017. Or the fact that the Abbotsford/Mission Times went under in 2013 and the Kamloops Daily News in 2014—the latter after some 80 years in operation. While the ethnic press isn't immune to changes in adver- tising—which remains the dominant source of revenue for most papers—"many of the established [ethnic] newspapers are making money and probably doing better than 10 years ago," according to Sewak. Meanwhile, readership continues to blos- som for ethnic papers as tens of thousands of immigrants move to B.C. each year; by 2017, more than half of all Lower Main- landers will belong to a visible minority, according to Statis- tics Canada—something that's already the case in Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey and Vancou- ver proper. By far, the Lower Mainland's top three immigrant source countries are China, India and the Philippines—and Sewak now has a newspaper tar- geting each community. That's attractive to major national and multinational advertisers that want to reach those new markets, says Sewak, who notes a "steady increase" in the pres- ence of corporate behemoths like Telus and Proctor and Gam- ble within his papers' pages. Other ethnic media publish- ers have seen success too. Vin- nie Combow, general manager at the 16-person Voice Group of Publications—which puts out two newspapers, two magazines and a "Yellow Pages-style direc- tory" for the local Punjabi com- munity—says his Surrey-based company gets "a lot of corporate advertising, including a lot from P et owners have been known to resort to devious tactics to keep their four-legged companions close by while travelling. In 2014, a woman managed to board a US Airways ¥ight with her pet pig, claim- ing it was an emotional support animal. This past April, Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp smuggled Yorkshire terriers Boo and Pistol into Australia, risking euthanasia (Boo and Pistol), †nes up to AU$340,000 and even jail time (Depp). According to a 2013 TripAdvisor survey, 22 per cent of pet owners say they have snuck their animal companions into a hotel or B&B that was not pet-friendly. In response, websites like PetFriendly.ca, DogFriendly .com, BringFido.com and GoPet Friendly.com have sprung up in recent years, listing pet-friendly travel options. But Victoria-based Pets Can Stay, which has been certifying hotels since 2003, takes it a step further—setting out basic standards (based on input from an advisory board of hospi- tality, travel, pet and veterinary representatives) for service, fees, room types, amenities, safety and policies regarding leashing, pet-friendly areas and kennelling. "We take a look at everything from the perspective of the hotel, the guest without a pet and the guest with a pet to †nd a comfort- able place where all three can co-exist," says owner Carla Lewis. Pets Can Stay—which claims to be the †rst and only certi†cation program in the world for hotels Dog Day Night A new breed of pet-friendly accommodations–including pet-certified hotels–makes it easier to travel with your furry companion by Felicity Stone T r a v e l automotive." While the com- pany doesn't disclose †nancials, Combow will allow that Voice Group has "been protected from the recession because we are a niche market." And as Com- bow sees it, it's a growing and engaged niche: "People want to know what's happening in their communities—they like to have [these papers] as a resource to communicate their feelings." The success of the ethnic press has also bred a lot of com- petition. Paul Dhillon, editor of Surrey-based The Link Newspa- per, a South Asian publication launched in 1973, estimates there are now as many as a dozen Punjabi-language newspapers in the Lower Mainland alone— many of which, he says, "don't even have aproper editor and are just scrambled together by a publisher." While the established papers are doing well, Dhillon thinks that's not necessarily the case with upstarts. Post Group's Sewak agrees: "There is a rush of new titles being printed, and they are fast becoming defunct." Some of that competition has come from Canada's biggest newspaper publisher—although it remains to be seen whether Postmedia will have more suc- cess than its small counterparts. The owner of the Vancouver Sun and Province launched Taiyangbao, an online Chi- nese-language version of the Sun, and Vancouver Desi, an English-language website for South Asians, in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Sewak, for one, is skeptical—arguing that Desi lacks community coverage, which he considers key to cracking the ethnic market and attracting and retaining advertisers, many of whom still see value with print. "While 10 years ago, it was the rage to provide 'home country news,' now there is a tilt topub- licizelocal events andstories," he says. "Today, mainstream advertisers are focusing on com- munities." AsiAn PAcific Post: the numbers SOUrCE: POST GrOUP MULTIMEdIA readers with a post- secondary education 89% male-to- female reader ratio readers in the 32-to-46 age range median income of readers 55:45 60% $70,000 160,000 estimated weekly readership

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