ROGERS EXECUTIVE PEDDLING CANOE
By Adnews Staff
Rogers Communications appears to have high hopes for the World Wide Web. John Tory put special emphasis on the Rogers' CANOE (Canadian Online Explorer) Web sight last week, when he spoke to Canadian media directors about developments at Rogers Multi-Media since he became president of the division a little over a year ago. The site, which went up on the Internet last month, carries content from Maclean's magazine, The Toronto Sun and its sister papers, The Financial Post , as well as from Toronto's all-news radio station 680News. CANOE also carries original content. While the site is far from profitable yet, it has eight advertisers. Tory told the Canadian Media Directors' Council annual conference that he believed this makes CANOE a "clear leader" in the Web advertising market. He said that Rogers intends to have audit numbers for the site by June. He told Adnews that the site will most likely be audited by a joint venture of A.C. Nielsen and Internet Profiles Corp., which uses Web measurement programs I/Count and I/Audit. Rogers Multi-media was created to house all of Rogers Communications' publishing and broadcast properties after the Toronto-based conglomerate took over Maclean Hunter in 1994.