Newspaper Innovation

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.

Metro’s second Danish free daily, 24timer, is increasing circulation with 20,000. Goal is, according to Danish mediawebsite MediaWatch to challenge the position of Jyllands Posten as Denmark’s second best-read newspaper.

MetroXpress was the best-read paper in the first six months of 2010 with 451,000 readers. So far, 24timer is only the 4th paper in Denmark with 326,000 readers after MetroXpress, Jyllands Posten (411,000 readers) and Politiken (369,000 readers).

Whether 20,000 copies extra (official circulation for the first half of 2010 was 138,000) will be enough to take over the second position is questionable.

24timer – launched by Jyllands Posten / Politiken in 2006 and sold to Metro in 2008 – has only reduced circulation over the last years. In 2006 it started with almost half a million, in 2008 this was down to 220,000, in 2009 to 165,000.

Jyllands Posten/Politiken owns 24.5% of the Danish Metro operation.

With a circulation of 330,000 copies, Swiss free daily Blick am Abend increased its circulation in 2009/2010 with more than 40% compared to the previous period researched by WEMF. Reason for the increase are the new editions in St. Gallen and Luzern.

Market leader 20 Minuten lost some circulation (65,000) and now distributes 700,000 copies. The decrease is mainly the result of the closure of one of the editions in the French speaking part of Switzerland.

Total circulation of free dailies in Switzerland is now more than one million, meaning a total market share of 33%.

Leading Dutch free dailies Metro and Spits distributed less papers in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the previous quarter and also compared to the same quarter in 2009.

Metro now has a circulation of 500,000 against 518,000 in Q1 and  527,000 in Q2 2009. Spits went from 452,000 in 2009 to 424,000 in Q1 and to 407,000 in Q2.

Free daily De Pers, however, increased circulation. In Q1 it distributed 216,000 copies; in Q2 this was 255,000. Average circulation of the paper in 2009 was 221,000. In that year it cut back circulation substantially.

Local free daily Almere Vandaag was had a stable circulation of 78,000 while Alpen.cc distributed 19,000 copies. Both papers distribute four days a week.

Total free circulation in the Netherlands is around 1.2 million, which is a market share of the total Dutch newspaper market of 25%.