Newspaper Innovation

UK free daily Metro, owned by Associated Newspapers (also owning tabloid paper Daily Mail) will launch an “online gaming platform” called Metro Play.

Six months ago Metro Play was launched as a tablet-app, now it is also avialable on the web.

The website offers more than 200 different games, the Casino games (slot-machine games, black jack, poker, roulette) being the most promising in terms of revenues. Gamers have to deposit between £10 and £250 and register with Metro Play Casino before they can play.

According to the press realease:

Metro Play aims to target its core audience of young-adult urbanites while commuting, or during their downtime at work and home. Jamie Walters, executive director at Metro Play: “We know that Metro’s urbanite audience enjoy gaming as a mainstream leisure activity, using it to make the most of their most valued possession – their time. This makes Metro Play a very exciting proposition and we are proud to bring this innovative gaming destination to the marketplace.”

The word ‘gambling‘, however, is carefully avoiding in the campaign, it’s all about gaming, play, and entertainment.

Going to the website, however, results in a “restricted” message outside the UK.

According to Campaignlive, Metro is spending a £1.9m national ad campaign using the tagline “More rewarding ways to Metro Play” to promote the operation.

Free dailies Metro (2004) and am New York (2003) have been competiting for the top spot in readership since they launched.

AM New York had more readers during the first years, Metro took over between 2008 and 2010; in 2011 and 2012 am New York had more readers but this year Metro (733,000 readers against 718,000 for am New York) took over again according to Scarborough research.

Metro reaches 4.4% of the New York population on an average day, am New York 4.3%. On a weekly basis Metro reaches 8.8% of the New Yorkers, am New York 8.2%. (Metro Press Release)

As both papers have a circulation of around 325,000 this means that an average paper is read by more than two readers.

Can frees join the paid? Politico likes to thinks so.

The US free website/newspaper will start testing metered pay-models for at least six months in the six states and internationally.

Readers will be required to pay for content after consuming a set number of pages on the website. Politico will test different price points and page limits to find the sweet spot for our readership. (…) We believe that every successful media company will ultimately charge for its content.

Politico operates a website with high value political content since 2007. In 2009 it launched a free daily – circulation around 35,000 – that was distributed on Capital Hill and environment on days when Congress was in session. The newspaper provided the company with revenues because the website was lossing money.

Politico already operates a paid PRO version with alerts and exclusive content. The new version is another sign on media companies shifting towards a paid content model.

With more than 300 media companies now charging for online content in the U.S., the notion of paying to read expensive-to-produce journalism is no longer that exotic for sophisticated consumers. This is a very promising, if uncertain, trend in our country. The collective decision by media companies to give away for free a product of high value and high cost will go down as one of the worst, self-defeating moves in the history of industry.

Apart from paid content, Politico also started with an experiment with sponsored content (right).

The content appears on the frontpage, just like any other content, with the same font and design, and with a byline, but with a separate heading that says Sponsor-generated content:

The treatment strikes a fine balance between protecting readers and promoting products.

Spain, only five years ago, a country with four national free newspapers, a combined free circulation of almost five million and a market share of free newspapers of more than 50%, is now seeing how the last remaining free daily is coping with the recession.

Free daily 20 Minutos, owned by Norwegian media house Schibsted, is combining editions in Sevilla, Malaga, Cordoba and Granada to one Andalucia edition.

Until last year 20 Minutos had 15 editions, in July of 2012 seven editions were closed. In 2013 only five (Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valencia and Andalucia) remain.

In the beginning of this month Schibsted already announced cost reductions because of losses in Spain and France.

20 Minutos was the only remaining national free daily in Spain after the closures of Metro (2009), ADN (2011) and Qué! (2012). Also a dozen local free papers closed down. Total circulation of free newspapers in Spain is now down to less than 800,000.

After the app for iPad, Belgium free daily Metro introduced an app for Android phones and tablets as well.

The app is available in a French and Dutch language version on the Google Playstore, the iPad is available on iTunes.

Papers until 30 days ago can be read on the new platform.

The free app is sponsored by the recruitement programma of Belgium Railways NMBS.

In November 2012, Metro readers were surprised to find their newspaper completely without photos. This was no mistake. The ad agency TBWA Copenhagen had been tasked with developing a campaign for Metro Photo Challenge.

This “No Picture Edition” paid tribute to pictures by proving how much we miss them when they are not there.

This innovative campaign for the Metro Photo Challenge 2012 resulted in a 377% increase in participants, a 139% increase in visitors and 139% more photos.

It was the sixth time the competition ran worldwide, and the results were better than ever before.

The No Picture Campaign recently received four awards in the Creative Circle Awards: the Ambient Award, Integrated Award and Event & Digital Events Award. Metro also received the award for Client of the Year. Metro Photo Challenge in total received eight prize nominations from Creative Circle, INMA, Communicator Awards and Marketing Week. (Metro Press Release)

Seee the Youtube video of how the audience reacted.

In cooperation with Blippar, Metro US introduced augmented reality for their editions in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

Readers can download the free Blippar app on their device, open the app, and hold it over “blippable” content in Metro to see videos, get coupons, shop online or unlock myriad other interactive content experiences on their smart devices.

Metro officially launched Blippar in the Summer Movie Preview issue on May 3 (right). Readers were able to virtually “try on” the Iron Man suit, answer a celebrity gossip poll, reveal hidden content, and see a movie trailer. (Metro Press Release through Wall Street Journal.)

More pictures with augmented reality examples can be found here.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is still the best-read paper in the Philadelphia area, reaching 775,000 people.

Free daily Metro is closing in – growing from 266,000 in 2010 tot 291,000 in 2013.

In the 21-54 age group Metro (203,000 readers) surpassed the Inquirer (198,000 readers).

Swiss free daily 20 Minuten (by Tamedia) introduced a new logo today (Persoenlich).

The 3D-logo (and slightly darker blue than the previous one) will be used for all editions of the newspaper (French, German and Italian versions). (click on paper for bigger version)

Also the website and the Friday-magazine will use the new logo.

The e-paper of 20 Minuten can be viewed here.

The free newspaper operations of Norwegian Media House Schibsted in France (20 Minutes) and Spain (20 Minutos) showed a loss (EBITDA) of 23 milljon NOK (€3 million) in Q1 of 2013 against a operating revenue of 68 million NOK (€9 million).

In 2012 the EBITDA for both operations was 48 million NOK (€6.3 million).

20 Minutes France had a revenue decline of 20 percent in Q1 2013, 20 Minutes Spain saw revenues declining by 23 percent.

In both countries cost reductions have been realized or are still in progess.