Vancouver magazine

What Vancouver magazine does

Vancouver Magazine is a city lifestyle publication serving Vancouver, British Columbia, operated by Canada Wide Media Limited, a privately held media company headquartered in Burnaby, B.C. Founded in 1967, the magazine publishes across five core editorial modules — Taste (restaurants, chefs, food news), Drink (bars, wine, spirits, beer), City (arts, culture, news, real estate, politics), Go (travel, day trips, outdoor activities), and Style (fashion, home, weddings) — alongside two signature annual franchises: the Restaurant Awards and the Power 50 ranking of influential Vancouver figures.

The business operates on a dual revenue model anchored primarily by advertising, including sponsored editorial features and brand partnerships with local restaurants, hospitality businesses, and national brands targeting the Vancouver market (e.g., Don Julio 1942 FIFA World Cup collaboration). The print edition is distributed free to Canadian residents via a direct subscription model that functions as an audience acquisition channel rather than a primary revenue stream, supported by a thrice-weekly email newsletter and active social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The digital platform runs on a standard WordPress CMS.

The publication targets Vancouver-area readers interested in food, dining, arts, culture, and urban lifestyle, while monetizing that audience through advertising relationships with local and regional businesses. Managing Editor Kristi Alexandra oversees food, travel, film, and wine coverage across Vancouver Magazine and sister publications Western Living and BCBusiness, both also operated by Canada Wide Media Limited. No public ownership, venture backing, or institutional investment signals are present in the available source material.

Name

Vancouver magazine

Legal name

Canada Wide Media Limited

Website

https://vanmag.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Vancouver Magazine is a privately held city lifestyle publication operated by Canada Wide Media Limited since 1967, serving Vancouver and British Columbia readers across food, drink, arts, culture, travel, and style via print, digital, newsletter, and social channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

City Lifestyle Magazine

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Food, Cooking & Beverage Magazines (MPAJAEAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Arts, Culture & Literary Magazines (MPAJAEAN), Travel & Outdoors Magazines (MPAJAEAH), Cookbooks, Food & Drink Publishing (MPAJAAAG)

Keywords

• City lifestyle magazine
• Restaurant reviews
• Food and drink journalism
• Editorial content publishing
• Local culture coverage

Headquarters

HQ city

Burnaby

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Print and Digital Subscriptions: Free print subscriptions for Canadian residents, with digital content accessible through the website. Subscription-based model where readers can sign up for complimentary print editions.
2. Advertising: The magazine features sponsored content and advertising partnerships. Notable examples include sponsored articles like the Don Julio 1942 limited-edition bottle feature. Advertising revenue from local Vancouver businesses, restaurants, and national brands targeting the Vancouver market.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Vancouver Magazine publishes a city lifestyle magazine covering Vancouver's food, drink, arts, culture, travel, and style, distributed via free print subscriptions to Canadian residents and a digital website at vanmag.com. The publication is organized into five editorial sections—Taste, Drink, City, Go, and Style—and produces a thrice-weekly email newsletter and signature annual features including the Restaurant Awards and Power 50 list. The magazine is operated by Canada Wide Media Limited, headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Product overview

Vancouver Magazine is a city lifestyle publication operated by Canada Wide Media Limited, serving as a print and digital media brand focused on Vancouver coverage since 1967. The publication operates as a unified platform with multiple editorial content modules spanning food and restaurants (Taste), bars and beverages (Drink), urban news and culture (City), travel and outdoor activities (Go), and fashion and home (Style). Key offerings include a free print subscription service, a thrice-weekly email newsletter, and signature annual features such as the Restaurant Awards and Power 50 ranking. The magazine publishes content across dedicated section archives covering restaurants, chefs, food news, events, bars and lounges, beer, spirits, wine, and various lifestyle categories.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Vancouver Magazine Print Subscription Free print subscription service for Canadian residents, providing monthly access to Vancouver Magazine's editorial content covering food, drink, arts, culture, and lifestyle.
• Vancouver Magazine Newsletter Thrice-weekly email newsletter delivering the latest restaurant news, hotspot recommendations, and event information directly to subscribers' inboxes.
• Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards Annual restaurant awards program recognizing outstanding dining establishments and culinary talent in Vancouver.
• Vancouver Magazine Power 50 Annual ranking of Vancouver's most influential people in business, politics, arts, and culture.
• Taste Section (Editorial Coverage) Editorial content module covering restaurant reviews, chef profiles, food news, and event listings for Vancouver's culinary scene.
• Drink Section (Editorial Coverage) Editorial content module covering bars, lounges, beer, spirits, wine, and cocktail-related content including reviews, news, and events.
• City Section (Editorial Coverage) Editorial content module covering arts and culture, business, health, politics, real estate, sports, and news specific to Vancouver.
• Go Section (Editorial Coverage) Editorial content module covering travel and lifestyle content, including day trips, hiking, skiing, vacations, weekend getaways, and gear recommendations for the Vancouver area.
• Style Section (Editorial Coverage) Editorial content module covering fashion, beauty, home decor, stores, and wedding-related content for Vancouver readers.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Eater Vancouver: Digital-first food and restaurant publication from Vox Media covering Vancouver dining scene. Competes for the same food/lifestyle audience and restaurant advertisers but operates with lower overhead and a purely digital cost structure.

Broad incumbents

• Bon Appétit: Major food and lifestyle publication with strong restaurant review content and digital presence. Represents the national scale competition that advertiser brands can choose instead of regional titles like Vancouver Magazine.
• Vancouver Sun: Major Vancouver regional newspaper covering news, business, sports, and lifestyle. Broad incumbent competing for the same Vancouver advertiser dollars and reader attention, particularly in the lifestyle and city coverage categories where Vancouver Magazine operates.
• Food & Wine Magazine: National U.S. food and beverage magazine with restaurant coverage, reviews, and culinary authority. Comparable in restaurant awards/editorial franchise format, though at much larger scale and broader geographic scope.
• Condé Nast Traveler: Major travel and city lifestyle publication with restaurant and dining coverage. Comparable editorial format (city guides, restaurant reviews, lifestyle coverage) at global scale, competing for travel and lifestyle advertiser spend.

Regional players

• Nuvo Magazine: Canadian luxury lifestyle magazine covering culture, dining, fashion, and travel across Canadian cities. Comparable regional Canadian lifestyle category positioning, though historically focused on Eastern Canada, providing a competitive template for cross-Canada lifestyle publishing.

Direct peers

• Western Living: Sister publication under Canada Wide Media Limited covering Western Canadian home design, real estate, food, and lifestyle. Direct peer in business model (free print magazine + digital), target market (BC/Western Canadian affluent readers), and parent company structure.
• BCBusiness: Another Canada Wide Media title covering BC business, entrepreneurs, and policy. Direct peer in publisher (shared parent), distribution model (free print + digital), and BC-focused audience, though with a business/professional reader segment rather than lifestyle.
• The Georgia Straight: Historic Vancouver alt-weekly covering arts, culture, food, music, and city life—directly overlapping with Vancouver Magazine's editorial mandate. Comparable in free-distribution model and Vancouver-specific focus, making it the closest regional competitor.
• enRoute (Air Canada): Canadian in-flight and digital lifestyle magazine covering travel, food, and city culture across Canadian cities including Vancouver. Direct peer in Canadian lifestyle magazine category and target demographic of affluent, urban Canadian readers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/vancouvermagazine
• Instagraminstagram.com/vancouvermagazine
• TikToktiktok.com/@vancouvermagazine
• Xx.com/vanmag_com
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vancouver-magazine

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Vancouver magazine