Toronto's surprise claim to fame: Survey that tracks which city events rate international coverage says film fest is T.O.'s technical knockoutFrancine Kopun
Toronto Star
The Toronto International Film Festival is the city's biggest international newsmaker by far, according to a new study by a Montreal media monitoring company.
Without it, our biggest claim to fame would be the Toronto Stock Exchange.
"We call it a media eclipse, meaning it's such a big event that it makes everything else look unimportant," said Eric Leveille, general manager of Influence Communication, the company that conducted the study for the Toronto Star and La Presse.
"We would even go so far as to say that while TIFF is going on, it's an excellent time of year for corporations to announce bad news because no one is going to listen. It's eclipsing all other news right now in your city."
The study examined 50 newspapers from eight countries outside of Canada for articles that mentioned Toronto or Montreal – excluding sports stories. Some highlights:
Toronto was mentioned 6,000 times. Montreal was mentioned 3,500 times.
Thirty per cent of the stories about Toronto related to business, with the Toronto Stock Exchange accounting for 13 per cent of mentions.
Another 30 per cent of the stories about Toronto related to culture. In that category, TIFF was by far the biggest story, accounting for one-quarter of all mentions of Toronto.
"This is humongous. Twenty-five per cent of a sector is absolutely huge," said David Lamarche, Influence analyst.
The indie band Arcade Fire was Montreal's top culture story, and it accounted for only 5 per cent of stories in that category. Cirque du Soleil and the Just for Laughs Festival were tied for second – each were named in 4 per cent of stories about culture in Montreal. The Jazz Festival, Leonard Cohen and the Montreal Film Festival tied for third place at 2 per cent each.
TIFF was the most covered topic in the U.K., in the U.S., where it got 10 times more coverage than any other subject in the culture sector, and in India, explained in part by the strong Bollywood connection.
"Bollywood loves Toronto," said Leveille. "More and more they're sending their stars to your city, they're sending their producers out there."
TIFF director Piers Handling said yesterday he knows from first-hand experience that Toronto is known from Houston to Mumbai for the film festival. He argues it's becoming what the Louvre is to Paris – a cultural icon, inextricably linked to the city.
"The festival largely brands the city of Toronto. I'll be so arrogant as to say that to a large extent, we brand Canada," said Handling.
Mayor David Miller said he's not surprised to hear TIFF is such a big news story.
"TIFF is now the most important film festival in the world. It's an extraordinary success," he said, although he stopped short of agreeing with Handling that it should get more funds from any level of government as a result.
The challenge, said Miller, is to use the strength of TIFF to promote Toronto in other ways – as an international business centre, a great place to make films as well as see them, a great place to visit.
Other important Canadian news stories included the AIDS/HIV conference in August 2006, and the Canadian mining industry, which is closely watched in Australia and South Africa. The Dawson College shooting was the biggest news story in Montreal during the period covered by the survey – May 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007.
The arrest of 17 suspected terrorists in the Toronto area did not play as widely or as often as Leveille thought it would – it was the fifth-most reported story about Toronto worldwide, behind TIFF, the AIDS conference, the TSX and Conrad Black. He said that might be because stories about the arrests may have referred to "Canada" or "Ontario" rather than "Toronto."
Toronto, the analysts pointed out, continues to enjoy a reputation as "Toronto the Good." An article in one South African paper, for example, discussed whether or not rumours of a law in Toronto requiring pedestrians to give hand signals before turning were true.
But when it comes to tourism, Toronto needs help. Tourism accounted for only 1 per cent of stories about the city in the international press, compared to 6 per cent of stories about Montreal.
The survey also found that the Toronto Star was the most often cited newspaper and the University of Toronto the most-often mentioned university.
In Montreal, McGill was the university most often mentioned in the international press.
Without it, our biggest claim to fame would be the Toronto Stock Exchange.
"We call it a media eclipse, meaning it's such a big event that it makes everything else look unimportant," said Eric Leveille, general manager of Influence Communication, the company that conducted the study for the Toronto Star and La Presse.
"We would even go so far as to say that while TIFF is going on, it's an excellent time of year for corporations to announce bad news because no one is going to listen. It's eclipsing all other news right now in your city."
The study examined 50 newspapers from eight countries outside of Canada for articles that mentioned Toronto or Montreal – excluding sports stories. Some highlights:
Toronto was mentioned 6,000 times. Montreal was mentioned 3,500 times.
Thirty per cent of the stories about Toronto related to business, with the Toronto Stock Exchange accounting for 13 per cent of mentions.
Another 30 per cent of the stories about Toronto related to culture. In that category, TIFF was by far the biggest story, accounting for one-quarter of all mentions of Toronto.
"This is humongous. Twenty-five per cent of a sector is absolutely huge," said David Lamarche, Influence analyst.
The indie band Arcade Fire was Montreal's top culture story, and it accounted for only 5 per cent of stories in that category. Cirque du Soleil and the Just for Laughs Festival were tied for second – each were named in 4 per cent of stories about culture in Montreal. The Jazz Festival, Leonard Cohen and the Montreal Film Festival tied for third place at 2 per cent each.
TIFF was the most covered topic in the U.K., in the U.S., where it got 10 times more coverage than any other subject in the culture sector, and in India, explained in part by the strong Bollywood connection.
"Bollywood loves Toronto," said Leveille. "More and more they're sending their stars to your city, they're sending their producers out there."
TIFF director Piers Handling said yesterday he knows from first-hand experience that Toronto is known from Houston to Mumbai for the film festival. He argues it's becoming what the Louvre is to Paris – a cultural icon, inextricably linked to the city.
"The festival largely brands the city of Toronto. I'll be so arrogant as to say that to a large extent, we brand Canada," said Handling.
Mayor David Miller said he's not surprised to hear TIFF is such a big news story.
"TIFF is now the most important film festival in the world. It's an extraordinary success," he said, although he stopped short of agreeing with Handling that it should get more funds from any level of government as a result.
The challenge, said Miller, is to use the strength of TIFF to promote Toronto in other ways – as an international business centre, a great place to make films as well as see them, a great place to visit.
Other important Canadian news stories included the AIDS/HIV conference in August 2006, and the Canadian mining industry, which is closely watched in Australia and South Africa. The Dawson College shooting was the biggest news story in Montreal during the period covered by the survey – May 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007.
The arrest of 17 suspected terrorists in the Toronto area did not play as widely or as often as Leveille thought it would – it was the fifth-most reported story about Toronto worldwide, behind TIFF, the AIDS conference, the TSX and Conrad Black. He said that might be because stories about the arrests may have referred to "Canada" or "Ontario" rather than "Toronto."
Toronto, the analysts pointed out, continues to enjoy a reputation as "Toronto the Good." An article in one South African paper, for example, discussed whether or not rumours of a law in Toronto requiring pedestrians to give hand signals before turning were true.
But when it comes to tourism, Toronto needs help. Tourism accounted for only 1 per cent of stories about the city in the international press, compared to 6 per cent of stories about Montreal.
The survey also found that the Toronto Star was the most often cited newspaper and the University of Toronto the most-often mentioned university.
In Montreal, McGill was the university most often mentioned in the international press.
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