Newspaper Innovation

Today, Metro’s world-wide guest editor is fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. Inside all Metro’s there are stories by and inspired by him.

All Metro’s can be downloaden from the ReadMetro website.

Below the covers of Brazil, France, Guatelmala, Hong Kong, Denmark, Ecuador, Holland, Hungary, Russia, Sweden, USA and Portugal (Click to enlarge).

Spanish free daily Qué! celebrated its 7th birth last week with a special issue on mobile content, with a huge QR code on the 64-page 18 January issue (download).

Qué! is developing content for video that readers can download by entering the picture on the cover in their smartphone. Also the webpage www.que.es is redesigned.

Qué! – owned by Vocento and local partners – now shares the national Spanish free market with 20 Minutos.

The paper started with 12 editions and a circulation of almost 1 million in January 2005. Six new editions were launched between 2007 and 2009. In 2012 the paper distributes 600,000 copies in ten different editions.

Dutch free daily De Pers celebrates it 5 year birthday today.

The special issue (can be downloaded from here) contains a selection of the best stories that have been in the paper according to the editors. De Pers will also launch a book with stories from the last 5 years.

De Pers wanted to be the largest free newspaper in the Netherlands when it was launched in 2007. It never was (in the first year it had a circulation of 480,000), but its ambitions were substantial.

Print run was expected to grow to one million, while the paper also launched a saturday edition, a financial paper (a test run) and a series of books.

The paper lost millions of Euro’s and cut circulation to 220,000 in 2009. In that year, Marcel Boekhoorn, the owner of De Pers closed a deal with Wegener (Mecom) to print and distribute the paper, and sell advertising for a fixed fee for the next 11 years.

Although the deal was not very profitable for Wegener, De Pers was saved and is now again increasing the circulation to more than 300,000.

De Pers is very different from ‘regular’ free papers. It relies much less on wire copy and tries to build its own agenda with original news.

Commercial broadcaster TF1, the new owner of Metro France, will invest more than one million Euro in the paper, expand to 20 new markets and expects to break even in two years.

The paper will not increase the print run of 760,000 but reallocate 15 to 20% of the copies to new markets. The number of editions will go from 15 to 35 according to new director Edouard Boccon-Gibod in La Tribune.

In 2012 the paper expects a two-digit growth, partly because of synergies with TF1. There are, however, no plans to integrate editorial departments. There are now 115 people working for Metro, 43 of them journalists.

Boccon-Gibod accused former (majority) owner Metro International of not investing enough in the paper. One of the results is that Metro is far lagging behind 20 Minutes when it comes to visitors for the website.

La Tribune revealed also that Bolloré made an offer for the shares of Metro last summer. Martin Bouygues, owner of the Bouygues company that controls TF1, however, did not want his rival and enemy Vincent Bolloré to get hold of Metro. TF1 as minority shareholder had the first rights to buy the remaining stock and matched Bolloré’s offer.

Also 20 Minutes has announced to expand their market, although this will be accompanied by increasing the circulation.

In France total circulation increased from 2.3 million in 2009 to 2.6 million in 2010 and to 3.2 million in 2011.

In March, Metro France will also move to a smaller format and introduce a more colorful design. The smaller format resembles that of competitors 20 Minutes and Direct Matin. Also the Metro editions in the Czech Republic and Hungary use the smaller (half-Berliner) format.

Direct Matin, the free newspaper of the French Bolloré group, will end their collaboration with Le Monde and Le Courrier International.

For the last five years, journalists from both publications were responsible for four pages in every issue of Direct Matin.

From now on, the whole paper (24 pages) will be made by the own staff of Direct Matin. There are 60 journalists working for the paper. (L’Express)

The real thing – in terms of free newspapers – is also available in the Swedish capital.

Traditional newspaper boxes, with the main news of the day displayed on the front, containing the mother of all free newspapers: Metro Stockholm.

Metro started in Stockholm on February 13 1995 with a circulation of 200,000 copies. In 1998 it expanded to Gothenburg, a year later to Malmö. In 2004 a national edition was introduced.

Circulation in 2012 is more than 600,000. The Swedish edition is still one of the most profitable editions for Metro International.

Metro survived national competitors City (Bonnier 2002-2008) and Punkt.SE (Schibsted, 2006-2008). In 2012 there are also local free dailies in Malmö, Lund, Upsala, Norrköping, Kristianstad, Landskrona and Helsingborg. Their total circulation is 120,000.

Although Stockholm is a one-free-paper-town since 2008, the first free newspaper I encountered yesterday was not Metro.

The Arlanda Express train station in central Stockholm had several boxes filled with Dagens Industri, the Swedish financial paper. Normally the paper sells for 30 Kronen (€3.40).

Giving papers away is not limited to Dagens Industri of course. In the hotel I could choose from all Swedish papers (including Dagens Industri) but also the Financial Times was available. Airports are also great places for getting (paid) newspapers for free.

At my university  library I often pick up a free copy of the Wall Street Journal.

After Metro Colombia, also Metro Holland introduced a new design (left) for the free daily (click for bigger version).

The new look by Alfredo Triviño who was also responsible for the current design, is more “serious” with less colour and smaller headings. Metro Denmark will also soon introduce the new design.

From January 2 on, readers who send in a picture that is used for the Dutch edition of Metro, will be paid for their efforts.

Metro is cooperating with Scoopshot, a service that works for professional and amateur photographers. Photographers have to download an app for either Android (right) or iPhone to offer news photo’s.

In some cases Metro will ask for photo’s on special occasions and set the price in advance, but users can also upload other photo’s and define their own price. Media have 48 hours to buy the picture – if a picture is bought exclusively the price is 10 times as high.

In Denmark and Sweden, Metro already uses Scoopshot for reader-photo’s. Also other media – particularly in Finland – have used Scoopshop photo’s.

Winners of Metro Photo Challenge are now online. Great pics.