Why Toronto?

10 smart, surprising, and slightly sentimental reasons you'll love being here:

1. Where global happens in English (with over 160 accents)
   Toronto is what happens when you mix Oxford English, Bollywood flair, Chinatown’s vibrancy, and Caribbean rhythm into one brilliantly diverse, media-savvy population. It’s not just multicultural — it’s functionally multicultural. Perfect for audience strategists.

2. The fourth largest media market in North America
   Toronto punches way above its polite weight. It is analytics-driven and remarkably future-facing, all in English. Think New York ambition with more elbow room.

3. Press freedom + public trust = unicorn
   Canada consistently ranks among the world’s top in both press freedom and media trust. That’s not just a badge of honour — it’s a strategic advantage.

4. AI isn’t just talk here
   Toronto’s Vector Institute for AI and The Globe and Mail’s subscriber intelligence tools make this city a global reference for real AI in the newsroom.

5. A news scene that’s both legacy and challenger
   From The Globe and Mail to Torstar to CBC to The Narwhal, Toronto offers a range of business models, reader revenue strategies, and editorial voices that make it a living subscription lab.

6. Home to global journalism education
   Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) is home to one of North America’s top journalism schools — and a new generation of newsroom thinkers.

7. Culture, class, and a killer food scene
   TIFF, the Royal Ontario Museum, award-winning bagels, ballet, and block parties. Toronto balances brains with soul.

8. Safe, walkable, efficient
   A downtown you can explore in minutes. Your hotel, your sessions, and your networking drinks are all within strolling distance.

9. Architecture with personality
   Modern glass towers meet Victorian brick and creative reuse. If cities were publications, Toronto would be The Economist with a New Yorker smile.

10. A global lens with a local heart
    This is a city where civic engagement fuels subscriptions. The journalism here is intimate, inclusive, and essential.

Why Toronto’s media landscape inspires the world

1. Legacy meets innovation
   Toronto is home to globally recognised news brands like The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, alongside fast-rising independents like The Narwhal, Canadaland, and The Local, creating a rich mix of tradition and disruption.

2. Top-tier broadcast journalism
   National broadcasters like CBC/Radio-Canada, TVO, and CP24 demonstrate the enduring role of public service journalism in a digital world — and how trust is built at national scale.

3. Global journalism education hub
   Institutions like Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of Toronto are shaping future newsroom leaders through programmes in journalism, AI ethics, and media innovation.

4. A startup engine
   Toronto’s media-relevant innovation scene includes companies like ScribbleLive (now part of Rock Content), Pressboard (acquired by Impact.com), ParseHub (web scraping and analytics), Village Media (local news), Narcity Media (youth-focused content), and Blue Ant Media (digital video and lifestyle). These startups span storytelling, automation, and monetisation.

5. Advertising and media agency capital
   Home to Canadian headquarters of global powerhouses like Dentsu, GroupM, Publicis, and IPG Mediabrands, Toronto drives branded content, media strategy, and advertising innovation across the country.

6. Tech and AI hub
   Anchored by the Vector Institute for AI, Toronto is also home to offices for Google DeepMind, Meta AI, and fast-scaling startups like Cohere (natural language processing) and Waabi (AI for autonomous vehicles). These players are applying frontier technologies to real-world challenges, including those found in media.

7. High-trust civic and regulatory environment
   From government-backed media innovation funds like the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and the Canada Periodical Fund to cultural grants and academic partnerships, Toronto offers a testbed for responsible public-private media collaboration.

8. Creative capital
   With institutions like TIFF Bell Lightbox, OCAD University, and the Canadian Film Centre, Toronto blends media, visual arts, and interactivity, where storytelling becomes immersive and design becomes narrative.

9. A multilingual, multicultural test market
   With over 50% of its population born outside Canada, Toronto allows media companies to test audience segmentation, inclusive storytelling, and multilingual UX strategies. It’s where innovation meets identity — in real time.

10. A collaborative spirit
    Initiatives like the Digital News Innovation Challenge, newsroom-academic labs at TMU’s Journalism Research Centre, and cross-industry partnerships with Google News Initiative, CBC, and local independents make Toronto a city where ideas are not just tested — they scale. Whether it’s public-private initiatives or newsroom-university mashups, collaboration here leads to outcomes the whole industry watches. Cross-sector initiatives such as Digital News Innovation Challenge, newsroom-academic research at TMU’s Journalism Research Centre, and partnerships between CBC, Google News Initiative, and independent startups, make Toronto a city where ideas are not just shared — they’re scaled. Whether it’s public-private partnerships, newsroom-academic research projects, or cross-industry innovation, Toronto thrives on smart collaboration and shares the learnings with the world.

Together, they make up one of the most dynamic, instructive, and exportable media ecosystems in the world.