Dose

As of yesterday there's a new free paper in Ottawa and unlike Xpress this one is issued daily. Dose is put out by CanWest Global (although you won't find that information on the site) and targets 18-34 year-olds. While it's hard to get a good feel for what they're doing when they've only put out two issues they seem to be going for short, short articles that are big on information and opinion, not so big on elaboration. So far Dose is available in printed form in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa.

I'll be keeping an eye on them. If nothing else it makes for interesting bus reading.

Comments

[Michael G Cohen]

As someone who works for Dose, we are always encouraging your feedback...Please keep in touch

[kevin]

In Vancouver Dose, Metro, and 24 all launched within a week of each other. Prior to that I had never heard of any of them.
Anybody know where the business model came from? and why the super rapid roll out? I'm guessing that its an attempt to copy a sucessful trend in the US or UK. I doubt Asper, Black, and the rest of the old guard suddenly got inovative on their own.

[robyn]

I've picked up Dose and Metro a few times in the past week. Dose is definitely my favourite, hands down, even if just for the "what's going on today" feature in the back complete with a map of where everything is happening. The news is ok, and a good overview if you don't have access to your favourite news source and want some local bits thrown in for good measure.

It'll be interesting to see if either of them last for a while.

[Ben]

There's a Dose dispenser/box at the St Laurent stop on the corner where you get the 111 and 85.

[Joe]

I've run across Metro a few times, seems pretty good so far. Havn't checked out Dose yet - are they at St Laurent station?

[Jodi]

Dose is having a contest to win tickets to see U2 in New York - so it makes them a good paper in my book.

[Ben]

Interesting. I hadn't noticed Metro at all. Their boxes must not be as flashy as Dose's which can be found all along Rideau and at some of the major bus stops (Laurier and at St Laurent) to name a few places. I'll have to look into this.

[Mike M]

I think Dose was put out to compete with Metro (www.metronews.ca) which started distributing last week. I've yet to pick up a copy of Dose (there don't seem to be any boxes in my area), but at a glance it looks to be the same idea as Metro, a paper you can read in about 5 minutes. I don't think I'll be cancelling my Citizen subscription, although I'll probably pick up Metro/Dose on days when I don't have time to read the Citizen.