Newspaper Innovation

On September 8 a new free daily, called t.o.night, will be launched in Toronto.

The paper will cooperate with the Toronto BlogTO. which will produce a page of local content daily.

The paper will print 100,000 copies a day; distributed between 3:30 and 6:30pm near subway stops and other transit touch-points in the city.

Toronto already has two morning free dailies: Metro (launched in 2000) and 24 Hours (2003) and apart from that a lively free daily history.

In 2000 Torstar launched GTA Today, which merged with Metro a year later. Competitor Sun Media\Quebecor launched FYI Toronto – all in the same week as Metro.

From 2005 to 2006 CanWest published Dose in Toronto and four other markets in Canada.

German publisher WAZ (Essen), the second newspaper publisher in Germany after Springer (Bild), is thinking about a new tabloid paper to attract a younger audience according to CEO Christian Nienhaus in an interview in German magazine Horizont.

The name ‘U-bahn Zeitung’ (subway paper), however suggest also a way of distribution that comes very close to a free commuter paper, still considered as the arch enemy of paid newspapers in Germany. The target audience is indeed the commuter according to WAZ.

Earlier, similar attempts with a cheaper small-format paper in Frankfurt (News), Cologne (Direkt), Saarbrücken and Cotbus (20 cent) failed. Also Springer tested the cheap Extra paper without success although their Welt Kompakt edition seems to do quite OK (seems, because the publisher does not break out separate data for Die Welt and Welt Kompakt).

Money for the new paper could come from Austria, as WAZ wants to sell their 50% share in Kronen Zeitung – although their long-time adversary and fellow-owner Hans Dichand, seems to be hackling over the price.

The Printed Blog, a US effort to transform blogposts into a free weekly/daily, failed some weeks ago because of lack of funding (see previous post). Meanwhile, back in the UK, a new, somewhat similar project has emerged.

Anton Waldburg and his team are planning the Blogpaper, were blogposts can be rated by readers, after which – possibly – a printed version, financed by advertising can be distributed.

Lessons learned from the previous US attempt, Waldburg is moving slowly according to an interview with him in Journalism.

Swiss free daily News, launched in December 2007 to counter free daily ‘ch’, could be the next victim on the Swiss free newspaper market after it accomplished it mission with the closure of ‘ch’ in May of this year.

The paper is published by Tamedia (Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich), Espace Media (owned by Tamedia, Berner Zeitung) and the Basler Zeitung in Basle. The last partner, owning 25% of the operation, could be saving two million Swiss francs (€1.3m) a year by pulling out according to Swiss magazine Bilanz. Total losses of the paper amount to 7 million Swiss francs (€4.6m).

For Tamedia, closing down News would not be a big problem as it will probably improve the position of their leading free paper 20 Minuten.

The ‘Mittelland’ edition of News was already closed down in December 2008. The incumbent Mittelland Zeitung (AZ Medien Gruppe) also had plans for a free paper but shelved the plans.

In Zurich, News will launch a campaign whereby readers can trade in the News copy for a copy of the paid Tages-Anzeiger. (Cash)

At the end of this year the two free dailies in the Western, French speaking, area: Le Matin Bleu and 20 Minutes will merge.

The merger plans for Irish free dailies Metro and Herald AM are now officially confirmed. Metro Ireland is owned by Associated Newspapers, The Irish Times and Metro International. Independent News and Media, publishers of paid paper Evening Herald own Herald AM.

The new paper will be called Metro Herald, Metro International will sell its share in the company. All other shareholders will have one third of the business. The merger still has to be approved by the Competition Authority.

The circulation will be around 70,000 copies – the same as the current circulation of both papers. (Irish Times)

The regional government of West-Australia is asking publishers to bid on exclusive distribution rights for an free afternoon newspaper in Perth. Distribution would be at train and bus stations and ferries.

In 2007 a similar tender was proposed but no publisher met the qualifications of the bid at that time. New bids – for a period of 2 years – will be assessed form July 16 on.

Australian, New Zealand and US publishers which will get a 20 per cent price preference over tenders from other nations – thanks to Australia’s free trade agreements with its ANZUS partners.

The paper must also devote some room for information from the Public Transport Authority in Perth. (WAToday)

On of our Chinese readers pointed us to a – so far undiscovered – free daily published in the Eastern Chinese city of Nanking (Nanjing), the Oriental Guardian.

The paper is published by the Nanjing Daily Group, also publisher of paid papers in the Nanking area, the Nanjing Daily (circulation 1.5 million) being the most important.

The circulation of the Oriental Guardian is 280,000 while it counts 24 pages on average. Distribution is – like almost all other Chinese free dailies – mostly through public transport. Subway travelers who can show a valid ticket get the paper for free, others are charged the cover price of 0.5 or 1 Yuan.

The paper probably started in 2006, as the pdf archive on the website goes as far back as that year.

Swiss free evening paper Blick am Abend (Ringier) will expand in Luzern and St. Gallen in August (see previous post) with local editions.

Blick am Abend is now available in three local editions: Zurich, Berne and Basle.

The Luzern edition will also be distributed in Zug and Emmen while the St. Gallen editions will also be available in Wil, Gossau and Herisau. (Persoenlich)

Also competitors 20 Minuten and .ch have five local editions in German speaking Switzerland. Free daily News is only distributed in Zurich, Berne and Basle.

The ‘Metro Stratgey’ of making deals as a stand-alone publisher of free newspapers with a publisher of paid newspaper is spreading.

Dutch free daily De Pers is, according to website PlusPost, making a deal with Dutch publisher Wegener (owned by Mecom) to have part of sales, distribution and printing done by the largest publisher of regional newspapers in the Netherlands.

According to Irish media magazine Marketing, executives from Independent News & Media (INM), The Irish Times and Associated Newspapers are close to merging the two Dublin free dailies Herald AM and Metro.

The combined title would be called Metro Herald. Metro International, a 10% partner in Metro Ireland, would sell its share in the operation.