Two more free Portuguese dailies [update]
Last week, Monday September 10, a sixth free daily was published in the Portuguese capital Lisbon. Global Noticias has a circulation of 150,000 and will launch a Porto edition next year too. Publisher is Controlinveste, that also owns Diário de Notícias, Jornal de Notícias, 24 Horas and O Jogo. With this launch Portugal joined the group of countries where more free than papers are distributed. Free weekday circulation is now around 53%. But there was more to come.
Yesterday (September 20) saw the suprise (or test) release of CM Extra, a free afternoon daily spin off of paid paper Correio da Manhã. Publisher Cofina already publishes free papers Destak (since 2004) and Meia Hora (since June 2007) in Portugal. The first issue counted 12 pages and took the Portuguese press by suprise.
Also free papers Metro, OJE and Diario Desportivo are published in Portugal. Portuguese sources also informed NI that before the end of 2007 paid papers Público and A Bola will jointly launch another free daily. This would bring the total to eight. Until now only Korean capital Seoul (with 40 times the number of inhabitants) has eight different free papers.
UPDATE: Listed above was free sports paper Diario Desportivo. This title, however, disappeared from the market. The last issue was published on July 15 but the paper did not resurface after the (soccer) holiday. Ten journalists lost their jobs. Diario Desportivo was launched in January 2007 had a circulation of 100,000. According to CM Extra publisher Cofina, the free paper was just a test and a way to draw attention to the Correio da Manhã of the next day. The Público / A Bola initiative is called Sexta (the 6th day: Friday), suggesting that it is a free weekly to start with. Initial investments are between €2 and €2.5 million while break even is already expected within one year. The paper aims at a circulation of 350,000. Expected launch date is mid-October. Meanwhile free daily Destak is increasing its circulation in Porto with 25,000 to 70,000. Total market share of free papers in Portgugal is now just above 50%.