Italy: Economic daily issues free evening paper

Posted by Elena Perotti on November 23, 2006 at 1:26 PM

The most important Italian economic daily, Il Sole 24 Ore, published yesterday the first issue of its free paper 24 Minuti (24 Minutes). The paper’s business plan predicts that profitability will be reached in three years, a result that no other Italian free paper (Leggo, Metro and City), has attained. 24 Minuti will supposedly collect about 20 million euros in advertisements next year. The paper is distributed in two editions, Milan and Rome, with an overall print run of 500,000 copies, 250,000 per city.

As explains Alessandro Bompieri, director general of the publishing house, the ambitious economic objective is possible for 24 Minuti given that the editor of the free paper is Fabio Tamburini, editor-in-chief of the company’s news agency Radiocor. Moreover the two outlets share the same newsroom, which hired 10 new people in order to face the additional amount of work. Also, 24 Minuti is printed in Il Sole 24 Ore printing facility at the beginning of the afternoon, when the rotary machines were unexploited.

The free paper provides general information but has not divulged whether its economic section will be comprised of articles from its big brother. The first page will always cover breaking news of the dateline.

24 Minuti has been designed with the aim of reaching a carefully targeted public between 25 and 40, “with a more distinguished profile than the usual readers of free paper”, in the words of Bompieri. This is why it is distributed at the end of the afternoon and in central locations, such as 4 and 5 stars hotels, selected gym clubs and airports. After 19:30, 24 Minutes branded cars and hostesses dressed in the company’s orange color hand out the paper in night clubs, restaurants and theatres. In order to reach readers who are in target but do not live in Milan or Rome, the PDF of the paper is sent by email to a list of selected managers.

24 Minutes will also collaborate with some of the more successful shows of the company’s radio station Radio 24, which was launched in 1999 and reaches an audience of 1,7 million. In December, 24 Minutes will begin its own website.