One of Quebec's most-read newspapers will be printing its final daily edition at the end of the year.

As of Jan. 1, 2016, La Presse will only be available from Monday-to-Friday online and via its iPad App, La Presse+.

It will, however, continue to print its Saturday edition on actual newspaper.

Guy Crevier, the president and publisher of La Presse, said the newspaper would be the first major daily to go entirely digital, and said this decision is due entirely to the success of La Presse+, which launched two and a half years ago.

"La Presse+ is now more successful than the print version of La Presse after 131 years of existence," wrote Crevier in a statement announcing the change.

"Over 460,000 people have made La Presse+ part of their weekly news and information ritual."

Last year, Power corp. executive Paul Desmarais Jr. said the disappearance of the daily newspaper was inevitable -- he just didn't know exactly when it would happen.

Caroline Jamet, Communications VP for the newspaper, said La Presse would save $30 million by abandoning its printing presses.

"The revenues have gone down, both in terms of advertising and in terms of subscribers. You need to find a solution for the future," she said.

She also pointed out the digital version offers more ways to inform the public. 

"We're always trying to see the best way to convey a news story, before we only had picture and text. Now we have, audio, video, we have visual elements that we are able to show," Jamet said.

La Presse spent $40 million developing its iPad application before it was launched in April 2013.

The newspaper said its audience spends an average of 40 minutes each day reading the online newspaper, and that the majority of its readership is aged 25 to 54.

Brian Gabrial of Concordia University's journalism department said other newspapers are examining La Presse and deciding how they will jump online.

"They're being watched very carefully, certainly at the New York Times and obviously all the other media, because they want to see how successful this is going to be," he said. 

The announcement comes the same week the Toronto Star launched its own tablet version of its newspaper, which was developed by the same team that created La Presse+.

La Presse is owned by Gesca, a subsidiary of Power Corporation.