Newspaper Innovation

Sanoma Kaupunkilehdet Oy, the free paper division of leading Finnish publisher Sanoma, will change it’s free monthly V (Vee) into a weekend supplement for Metro Finland. The monthly will be published this month for the last time before it becomes part of Metro on September 7  when it will be launched as Metro Live.  To distinguish Metro from Uutislehti 100, the other free daily by Sanoma, Metro and Metro Live will be more targeted to younger readers. The magazine will also be distributed separately. According to the publisher, Metro has a daily readership of 300,000. 

Today the 4th International Conference for Newspaper Distribution “Managing Distribution” starts in Istanbul. The conference, organized by media trade magazines “dnv” and “press business” and Ifra will have experts from Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Brazil and the U.S.A. presenting the latest trends in newspaper distribution and discuss the daily challenges they face. Thursday, 31st May will cover “Subscription-based distribution models” and “Single Copy Distribution”; Friday, 1st June is devoted to “Distribution of preprints” and “Freesheet Distribution”. Jesper Larsen, Project Manager at 24timer (Denmark) and myself will talk about freesheet distribution.

Third Paris morning paper MatinPlus, launched in February of this year, has increasesd it’s circulation from 350,000 to 400,000. The paper will deliver the extra copies through the existing 225 distribution points. The paper will also introduce new advertising pages for jobs (Mondays) and real estate (Thursdays). The paper is owned by French media tycoon Vincent Bolloré while France’s leading quality paper Le Monde has a 30% share in the operation.

Source: La Croix

The last issue of Elche edition of the Spanish Metro was published on May 18. The edition was operated in cooperation with Ediciones Primera Plana (like in Castilla la Mancha, Alicante and Valencia), publisher of El Periódico de Alicante. The Elche edition was launched in April 2005 and had a very modest circulation of only 8000. Apparently the employees were left in the dark until the last moments about the closure. A new edition for Murcia, however, is already planned.

Source: El Sacapuntas through e-periodistas

In the already crowded Lisbon free dailies market, a fifth paper is about to be launched on June 6. After general papers Destak and Metro, business paper OJE and sports paper Diário Desportivo, Meia Hora (half hour) will be launched as ‘a paper of record’ in the Portuguese capital. Circulation of the 24 to 32 paper paper will be 100,000; publisher is Cofina Media/Metro News, also owner of Destak. The paper will be targeting higher class readers in residential areas, distribution is through offices, at traffic lights, and in restaurants. 15 journalists will be employed by the paper. Cofina is investing €2m in the project that hopes to break even in three years.

Source: Correio da Manha

The newsrooms of the San Francisco Daily are located above Crystal Cleaners (laundry shirts: $1.10) on the south end of Lombard street. Actually it’s ‘newsroom’ as there is only one, and it also contains the sales staff. But only two chairs were taken at the time I visited the office to talk to editor/publisher Dave Price, the rest of the staff was out selling ads and hunting for news. No more than 16 people are working for the paper, with only the sales staff having their picture in the colophon. Which they probably deserve because in terms of selling ads the paper is doing pretty well. More than 20 of the 28 pages of last Wednesday’s edition were filled with ads. The SF Daily was launched in May 2006 by Price and Jim Pavelich, who already were involved in free dailies in Colorado before they started the Palo Alto Daily in 1995. Later five more editions were launched in the Bay area before the group was sold to Knight Ridder and soon changed hands to McClatchy and then again to Dean Singleton’s MediaNews Group. (more…)

On June 13th June Project Freesheet will organise a walk through London to collect left free daily newspapers. The volunteers will spend the day on the tube and on the streets, wearing a Project Freesheet t-shirt, and collecting discarded free newspapers, which will be gathered together for a photo call at the end of the day. The event will coincide with the London Sustainability Weeks.

With three free dailies San Francisco is the most competitive free daily town in the US although the competitors are hardly equal. Anschutz’ Clarity Media has the SF Examiner and the City Star, this last very local paper was started to compete with The San Francisco Daily, launched in May 2006. This week I am in SF for the International Communication Association’s (ICA) conference where I am talking about media substitution and advertising revenue change. I will also be walking around town to see these three papers in action.

Magazine Strategies has a feature on the web performance of the free newspaper in France. After recent launches four papers are distributed in Paris and three in most other metropolitan areas. Metro updated it’s website in 2006 while 20 Minutes redesigned in March of this year. As in readership, 20 Minutes is ahead of Metro with more daily unique visitors.

Source: Strategies

After the closure of Metropol (Metro International) in January of this year, the remaining Polish free daily Metro, by publishing house Agora (Gazeta Wyborca) extended distribution and increased circulation. The paper is now distributed in 20 major towns in Poland, including Warsaw. Total circulation on weekdays is around 450,000 – on Friday a weekend edition with a circulation of 830,000 is distributed. After paid papers Fakt and Gazeta Wyborca, Metro is the third paper in Poland, in circulation as well as in readership. In Metropolitan areas the paper is second after Gazeta Wyborca.