07 October 2009

STANDARD GOES FREE

The London Evening Standard is to be distributed for free from 12 October

With the closing of the freesheet thelondonpaper some may have thought that the era of free newspapers was coming to an end. The London Evening Standard believes there is still life in this model and will forego about £75,000 a day in cover revenue to raise circulation and draw in the advertisers.

Circulation is expected to rise to 600,000 from its current level of 250,000 sold copies. The Standard has done well with its selective free distribution around theatre-land and central London Tube stations after 7.30pm.Paper costs are up 22% year on year. Ad revenue is suffering the harshest recession in living memory. It is no surprise newspaper companies are considering all their options to keep their business models tenable.