2.4 million readers for 20 Minutes France
French free daily 20 Minutes saw its readership increase with 12% to 2.4 million daily readers in 2006/2007. The Epiq (étude de la presse d’information quotidienne) study by TNS Sofres showed that 23 million French (46,4% of the population older than 14) read a newspaper on an average day. National paid dailies dropped with 4% to 7,76 million readers while the regional dailies lost 1,5% and have now 17,4 million readers. Free papers gained 14,3% and have a total readership of 3,49 million a day. 20 Minutes reaches 2,42 millions readers, Metro 2 million (+ 28%). Direct Soir, Matin Plus and Bretagne Plus were not audited yet. Sports paper L’Équipe had 2.37 million readers, Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui 2 million readers, Le Monde 1,89 million, Le Figaro 1,19 million and Libération 806.000. (Challenges)
Also advertising income for French free papers (includsing weeklies) is rising. In 2006 they gain almost 8% in revenues – compared to 2005 – and now have a share of 3.3%. This share is equal to that of paid papers (Presse Gratuite).