Dutch free daily fever rises
Within months or even weeks a fourth Dutch free daily DAG (Day) is expected, jointly published by PCM and telecom operator KPN. PCM publishes four national dailies in the Netherlands but has, unlike competitor De Telegraaf (free daily: Spits) no stake in free newspapers yet. In the past the publisher had several plans for free dailies but non materialized. DAG will be a multi-media concept with not only a paper and a website but also with TV in trains, operated by KPN. Also content for mobile phones and digital TV will be developed. The chief editor will come from the leading paper of PCM, de Volkskrant, while the newsroom of this paper also will deliver some content for DAG. The new paper will also be home delivered in combination with a Saturday subscription to de Volkskrant.
Meanwhile, other free dailies have been expanding their circulation. Metro has grown to more than half a million, Spits now distributes 440,000 copies. De Pers, launched last month, promised to distribute 400,000 copies and will double that before the end of the year. De Pers will work together with financial website De Beurs. Spits will participate in TV-screen narrowcasting in local buses in parts of the Netherlands.
A recent survey revealed that a third of the people interviewed are thinking about ending their subscription to a paid paper after the introduction of De Pers. The people interviewed, however, also said that paid and free papers are totally different while the majority had only seen De Pers once. Real, reliable data on paid and free circulation will not be published until July of this year, while readership data with De Pers included has to wait even longer.