Qué! San Sebastian launched
Spanish free daily Qué!, recently bought by the Vocento group for €132m (see previous post), launched their 15th edition in the Basque city of San Sebastian today. San Sebastian is the second city in the Basque country with 300,000 inhabitants, after Bilbao. In Bilbao ADN, Qué!, Metro and 20 Minutos are published. In San Sebastian Qué! is the first free daily. It was the first launch under the new ownership.
Owner Vocento publishes also paid paper El Diario Vasco in San Sebastian. Spanish sources told NI that the launch could be the first of launches in cities where Vocento operates paid dailies. Editions for Santander, Vitoria, Valladolid and Granada are said to be planned as well.
With the new launches Vocento is battling for the top position in free dailies in the highly competitive Spanish market. ADN, Qué! and 20 Minutos all have circulations higher than 900,000; Metro distributes just under 800,000 copies. 20 Minutos is the best read paper in Spain.
On the website of El Diario Vasco a short movie about the launch with some interviews can be viewed.