Readers per copy, however, went up for all titles: for Metro from 2 to 2.4, for London Lite from 2.1 to 2.6 and for thelondonpaper from 1.7 to 2.0 (2007-2008). These are all rough estimates as the periods overlap. But the trend is there: more readers per copy, some of it because of better circulation, but also because brands build up in my view.

The reading-time could be more related to the time people have than to content. Metro, for instance often has more than 50 pages. You would expect the reading time in the evening shorter, as people are more tired, and most of them have already checked news online.

Also interesting: The obvious difference in time spent reading the papers. While the free ones are mainly read up to 15 minutes (Metro 67%, Lite and Londonpaper 77 %), the paid-for papers are consumed considerably longer. Probably, because there is more content and the people tend to read more when they have paid something.

Do you know, whether the difference between Metro and the free evening papers can be explained with the page count/content? Or could it be related to the fact, that a) many people grab both evening papers and therefore don’t spend too much time on each one or b) most news are not new because you already read them online while on work?