Update Colombia: Diario Occidente
Diario Occidente, in the South-Western town of Cali in Colombia, is a free paper that was just recently ‘discovered’. The paper moved from a paid to a free model – probably already in 2006. The tabloid is published from Monday to Saturday and has a circulation of 30,000 and counts between 16 and 40 pages.
Diario Occidente is the first free paper in the country. Free dailies are now published in eight Latin American countries with a total circulation of 1.6 million (See map on Stats & Graphs).
The paper was launched in 1961. In Cali it competes mostly with El Pais. Cali is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department and has a population of 2.4 million. It is the third city in Colombia after Bogota and Mendellin. (Thanks to the editor of 103 year old Argentine daily La Razon – moved in 1999 from paid to free – who send me the information on the paper.
A commercial for the free daily can be seen on YouTube.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TzWWULaGBk[/youtube]