Europe: growth and decline
Nine countries in Europe might be defined – in terms of free newspapers – as mature markets: Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland. Free dailies were introduced at least six years ago while they have a substantial market share, at least 25% of total newspaper circulation. In five of these markets circulation went down in 2007.
In four countries: the Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland and Greece, circulation is still growing. In the last two countries growth is rather slow in the last years; in the Netherlands and Switzerland (click on graph left for better and bigger picture), growth is still spectacular, mostly because of the launch of two national titles in both countries in 2007.
In the other five markets, free newspaper circulation in going down, mostly because of closures of papers in the last year. In the Czech Republic Kuryr closed down while Metropolitni Expres is about to close down (click on graph for better and bigger picture). In Sweden Bonnier closed one of its City editions, in Spain and Italy sports papers folded while in Denmark the number of titles went down from nine in 2006 to four in 2007.