Newspaper Innovation

The Free 20 Minuten Friday lifestyle glossy of free Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten has increased its circulation to just over 200,000. It is a gradual rise from the 192,000 circulation at the end of 2010.

The magazine is available in more than 1000 newspaper boxes in the German speaking part of Switzerland (Zurich, Berne, Basle, St. Gallen, Lutzern) from 12:00 in the afternoon on. (Persoenlich)

The magazine was launched in October 2008 as a successor to the 20 Minuten Week magazine.

Yesterday I posted on the claimed circulation leadership of Metro US in their home markets New York, Boston and Philadelphia. The New York circulation was covered some days before.

Problem was that Metro claimed to be the largest paper but that there was no data on other papers. Audits on circulation and readership in the US are problematic anyhow as there is no central auditing organization and audits that do exist are not public. After yesterday’s post, however, some data fell of the back of a truck – so here’s the update.

New York: free daily amNewYork had an average circulation of 326,889 over the six months ending on March 31 2011 according to the CAC audit. Metro had an average circulation of 328,296. Indeed Metro beats amNewYork with 1400 copies and making it #1 in free newspapers.

In Boston Metro distributed 145,802 copies on average during the first three months of 2011. Paid paper The Boston Globe’s circulation is audited by ABC. In 2008/2009 total circulation was 313,395. In the Boston ‘City Zone’ circulation was 142,000 while there were 40,000 copies distributed in Suffolk, the city center. As Metro claims that all their copies are distributed in that area (no ABC or CAC data to back that up), Metro claims is the largest in that area. If that is the case (I’m sure it is) it can hardy be anything new.

In Philadelphia the circulation of Metro was 119,485 during the first three months of 2011. The Philadelphia Inquirer distributed 288,000 copies – again in 2008/2009 according to ABC, 71,000 of those in Philadelphia County. Again no zoned information on Metro and hardly anything new.

On readership Metro beats both Boston Globe (and Herald) and the Philadelphia Inquirer (and Daily News) according to Scarborough Research, but only in the centre of those cities. No readership data on New York are available.

After beating competitor amNewYork in circulation in the Big Apple, free daily Metro now also claims to be the biggest in Boston and Philadelphia. All three claims seem to be inaccurate.

In Philadelphia Metro has a circulation of 122,000 while The Inquirer and the Daily News distribute 360,000 copies combined – circulation of the Daily News is less than 100,000. Readership of Metro in Philly is 280,000. The Inquirer and the Daily News have 1.1 million readers.

In Boston Metro circulates 150,000 copies. The Boston Globe, however, has a circulation of 230,000. Readership: Metro 250,000 (2011) / Globe 790,000 (2009).

So, both in Boston and Philadelphia Metro is not the largest paper.

Circulation of Metro in New York is 328,000 while the paper has 640,000 daily readers. amNewYork reported a circulation of 345,000 in their last mediakit (pdf) in 2009 while it reports a readership of more than one million. There could be a drop in circulation of course – but hardly that much while recent official audited readership is not available.

With 1.2 million readers Metro also calls itself the “the largest free daily newspaper in the United States”. This is hardly news, as there is no free competitor with three editions in major cities in the US.

According to an item in Metro New York, the paper is now the free daily with the highest circulation in New York.

The six-month CAC audit ending March 31 2011 showed a circulation of 328,000. According to Metro the paper surpassed rival amNewYork in circulation.

In 2010 Metro had a circulation of 302,000 against 327,000 for amNewYork. As the CAC audit is not public, the new circulation of amNewYork is not clear.

Also news on readership of the two papers – more important than circulation – is not available.

Circulation of free dailies in Denmark was almost 2 million in 2006 when there were 11 titles published. In 2010 this is down to 440,000 (and three titles) according to Dansk Oplagskontrol.

This is 15% lower than circulation in 2009 (522,000 copies). The decline continues as both Urban and MetroXpress decreased circulation in the second half of 2010 compared to the first half. 24timer increased its circulation somewhat but not with the 20,000 copies the paper promised earlier. Both MetroXpress and 24timer want to increase circulation in 2011.

MetroXpress is still the largest Danish paper with a circulation of 193,000; 24timer is second with 139,000 copies while Urban is third with 110,000 copies.

Urban shares the third place with paid paper Yllands Posten – but Urban only distributed 94,000 copies in the last six months of 2010. (click on graph to enlarge)

Two of the three free national Dutch daily newspapers cut circulation in 2010 compared to 2009.

Metro now distributes 486,000 copies (505,000 in 2009). With a readership of 1,705,000 this means 3.5 reader per copy (3.6 in 2009).

Spits has a circulation of 383,000 (416,000 in 2009) – the paper now reaches 4.1 reader per copy ( 1,582,000 in total) against 4.0 in 2009.

De Pers is the only paper that increased circulation as it went from 221,000 to 240,000. With 717,000 readers the paper has 3.0 readers per copy.

Austrian free daily Heute had an average circulation of 541,000 copies in 2010 according to the latest ÖAK research. Circulation in 2009 was 483,000, meaning an increase of 12%.

The bulk of the circulation – 370,000 copies – are distributed in Vienna. In NiederOstereich (St. Pölten) 106,000 copies are distributed, while 65,000 copies are distributed in the Linz area.

Second free/paid daily Österreich has a free circulation of 222,000 (200,000 in Vienna) against a paid circulation of 142,000. In 2009 Österreich had a free circulation of 135,000.

Total free circulation in Austria increased with 23%.

UK free dailies kicked off in 2011 with higher circulation than in the previous months.

Metro distributed 1,383,000 copies, while The Evening Standard for the first time circulated more than 700,000 copies (704,000 to be exact).

Only City AM started carefully with 97,000 copies – in some months in 2010 circulation was more than 110,000.

The circulation of the Irish Metro Herald was stable at 61,000 according to the ABC January data.

All three national Spanish free dailies have cut their circulation when the full year 2009 is compared to July 2009 – June 2010.

Leading free paper 20 Minutes now distributes 723,000 copies (749,000 in previous period) while Qué! went down to 622,000 (from 652,000). ADN distributes 591,000 copies against 628,000 in the previous period according to the Introl/PDG website

PRNoticias covered the development over full year 2010 and showed an average circulation of 703,000 for 20 Minutos, 619,000 for Qué! and 576,000 for ADN. The graph is from their website.

Total free circulation in Spain is 2.2 million, down from 2.4 million in 2009 and 4 million in 2008.

Free daily Metro UK expands distribution to Southampton, Peterborough and Ipswich, to reach readers from those areas before they enter London.

Circulation of the London edition will increase with 50,000 to 800,000. Total circulation of Metro UK is now almost 1.4 million.

Metro will be distributed in 82 extra railway stations while distribution in 117 other stations will be increased as well.

The Evening Standard, the competing free daily by Alexander Lebedev, is said to increase circulation to 700,000 according to The Guardian. But also in June a circulation increase (to 750,000) was announced without ever taking place. Circulation in October was still 600,000.