With Metro UK celebrating its 10th birthday next week Stephen Brook of the Observer has examined the effect its launch has had upon the newspaper industry in London and the rest of the UK. Although slow starting, the Daily Mail General Trust owned publication is now distributed in 16 cities, and its success and impact upon the circulation of paid for titles eventually prompted a reaction from rival companies. "Ultimately, its success came at a cost for DMGT", writes Brook, as it prompted the launch of News International's evening rival the thelondonpaper. Although DMGT did manage to launch their evening freesheet the London Lite just days before the NI launch, both have had a considerable detrimental effect upon sales of DMGT's Evening Standard.

Metro "which reportedly achieved annual profits of £8m a year during the good times, gave itself over to advertisers in a way that no self-respecting paid-for newspaper would". However, the exclusive contract which allows Metro UK to be distributed in London Underground stations and is so essential to its popularity, is up for renewal next month. The merits of free newspapers are debatable: they have a derogatory effect on their paid for counterparts, yet the manner of their distribution attracts younger readers to reading news in print - DMGT's decision to launch Metro UK was apparently partly due to the sight of "young commuters reading a newspaper, rather than staring into space" in Stockholm. Either way, Brook believes that when "media historians cast their eye over the past decade", the freesheet trend will be a defining one.

Source: The Guardian