Results matching “free dailies re”

According to free-daily.com, Portland, Maine will be the host of new a free daily, the Portland Daily Sun.  The paper will published five days a week and will be in competition with paid-for dailies in the area.  

Once again, the launch of a new free daily seems a bit precarious under the current economic circumstances.  However, although some have predicted the end of free dailies, some feel that becoming free is the future of paid-for dailies.

Source: Free Daily

Detroit Media Partnership CEO David Hunke has declared that the company is "committed" to publishing two dailies in Detroit, never considering shutting down The Detroit Daily News amidst its current financial situation, according to Editor and Publisher.

The partnership has announced radical changes to the content and distribution of Detroit's two dailies, the News and The Detroit Free Press, foregoing home delivery except for Thursday, Friday and Sunday editions, and printing a one-section newspaper for single-copy sales the rest of the week.

The main criticism of the industry is that it does "little, incremental changes," Hunke said, and the changes will ensure the papers' survival.

Free daily newspapers have a "marginal" market presence in Africa, when compared to other continents. According to Newspaper Innovation, free dailies are only published in Botswana, South Africa, Egypt and Morocco and their circulation is "rather low."

Free daily Qué! is closing four of its Spanish editions in A Coruña, Bilbao, Mallorca and Murcia, according to Newspaper Innovation.

40% of the paper's workforce will be laid off, and publisher Vocento is asking the Spanish Ministry of Labor for a special ERE (Expediente de Regulación de Empleo) provision.

Closure of the A Coruña branch could be avoided "if the edition would merge with the other Galician edition in Vigo," and the Bilbao edition could merge with local free paper El Nervión


The 12 editions of Qué! were launched in 2005, but were owned by the Recoletos group, who sold the title in 2007.  Vocento's strategy is to "launch editions in every city where they operated a paid newspaper."

Qué! was the third national free newspaper in Spain, after 20 Minutos and Metro, with a readership of 2.2 million.  The circulation of the four dailies closed was around 120,000.

Source: Newspaper Innovation

Free paper 24 Hodin will publish its last issue on December 19, three years after its initial launch in the Czech Republic, leaving only one of the country's four free dailies published in 2006 remaining.

The paper, by Swiss publisher Ringier, had a circulation of 210,000.

Source:  Newspaper Innovation

The Dutch free daily, Spits, allows people to purchase editorial space. According to Newspaper Innovation, this method "caused some disturbance among most audience members" at the World Free Press Conference in Barcelona.

A recent example was when the paper made a deal with a local bank, Rabobank, to cover their cycling team throughout the Tour de France.  The bank covered all of the costs, however, coverage was probably less objective.

According to Newspaper Innovation, readers of free dailies are more likely to accept this model than readers of paid dailies.

Source: Newspaper Innovation

Free dailies 15minut and Obzor are numbers 2 and 3 in readership in the Ukraine, right behind paid paper Segodnya.

All three papers had gained readership since spring 2008, according to a National Readership Survey.  Segodnya had 519,000 daily readers, with 15minut and Obzor at 394,000 and 314,000, respectively.

Obzor's readership from spring to fall rose 25%, while Segodnya gained 3% and 15minut 1%.

Vecherkom, a free afternoon paper, came in 7th on daily readership in the country with 197,000 readers.

Source:  Newspaper Innovation

Free dailies will now be included in the Dutch Press Fund support policy, according to Newspaper Innovation.  Previously, only paid publications could apply for funds for special projects or research.

Dutch minister Ronald Plasterk, who is "responsible for the media," remains concerned about "commercial influences" on the media, a trend toward which free newspapers gravitate.

For example, Metro International has "Blunt day," in which musician James Blunt will act as editor-in-chief of Metro publications on November 17.

The Dutch Press Fund will have €1 million for support in 2009, with €2.3 million a year following.  

Source:  Newspaper Innovation

According to Newspaper Innovation and the National Readership Survey, all three major UK free dailies have increased their readership. 

Metro has seen a 20% increase from 2 million to 3.2 million in three years.  In London, London Lite leads with 1.1 million readers and thelondonpaper has 989,000 readers.  London Lite increased its readership by 28%, and thelondonpaper by 22%.

Source: Newspaper Innovation

A merger between two free dailies, 20 Minutes and Metro, is "inevitable" in France, according to a report by La Tribune.

20 Minutes has said they were "interested in anything that led to growth and consolidation," when referring to a Metro France shareholder's approach to the paper to discuss "cooperation," La Tribune reports.  Metro is denying the rumors.

A merger would "fit in Metro's international strategy," as there are similar international mergers in Sweden.

Both papers are in a "difficult" economic position, and face advertising competition with other free papers, such as DirectMatin and DirectSoir, and various other markets (such as Lille and Lyon) within France.

Source:  Newspaper Innovation

After a series of "rapid launches of free dailies between August and October 2006," two more of Denmark's editions of 24timer have closed, according to MediaWatch.

The latest closures in Odense and Aalberg on Friday mark a trend in the Danish newspaper market, which has been in a circulation decline since 1997.

In 2006, Denmark had 10 different free dailies with "20 editions and a total circulation of more than two million."  After a series of shutdowns, 24timer, Metro and Urban are the three that remain, each with only 3 editions and a circulation of less than 600,000.  Odense and Aalberg each had a circulation of 20,000.

Paid circulation in Denmark "dropped almost 25% in the last ten years," and free circulation is going down "even faster."

Source:  Newspaper Innovation 

German market research company, Mindline Media, have released a survey indicating that the German public would like free papers.

Germany is one of the few markets in Europe which has not seen the launch of free dailies.

A thousand people between the age of 14 and 49 were questioned and 46% thought free papers would make newspapers in general more attractive. The survey also revealed that 40% wanted smaller (tabloid) newspapers. Mindline reported that Germans would like more local news (36%) and more flexible subscriptions - for instance weekend-only - (30%).

More pictures and comics were only favoured by a small minority.

Source: EJC Media, Newspaper Innovation and Horizant

Ukrainian free evening daily, Vecherkom has been gaining momentum since its launch two years ago by Ukrainian publishing company Segodnya.  

The paper was launched with a targeted audience in mind - young readers who want faster news consumption.  The paper is less focused on politics and has fewer pages than other free dailies. Vecherkom also focuses on design, color and elasticity of layout for the advertisers.

Bertrand Pecquerie wrote in an article in Le Monde yesterday that the French newspaper industry is in crisis and, worryingly, turning to the State for help. Newspapers have been subsidized in France for the past ten years and, in those ten years, the situation has not improved, it has actually worsened.

Pecquerie believes that there are four core problems facing the industry and these are not being addressed. The four core issues are method, diagnosis, objective and means.

Dutch daily newspapers experienced lower circulation in the second quarter this year, according to the European Journalism Centre (EJC). Publisher PCM titles were "hit particularly hard."

For the first time, European readership of free dailies has gone down. At the end of 2007 it was 27,300,000 - now it's 27,000,000.

The decline is not significant, but is