Toronto Life offering restaurants and bars ability to write own paid advertising listings

Toronto Life, which has for years prided itself on the independence of its restaurant reviews and the anonymity of its reviewers, has launched a new online format which will allow bar, restaurant and food shop owners to write their own advertising listings. 

The current 1,500 listings now receive more than 630,000 unique visitors a month. The magazine says ratings and star system of reviews will remain and be strictly maintained so that advertising editorial listings, created and edited by Toronto Life food editors will remain completely and obviously separate from advertising. 

A basic ad listing is free and there is a tiered cost -- bronze, silver and gold -- beyond that. Gold listings are said to offer more than $10,000 of value, including 300,000 impressions (which means the CPM is about $33.) The higher tier listings can include photos, ads, slogans and specials