Free Dailies: Reaching saturation point?

Posted by Katherine Thompson on September 1, 2008 at 10:32 AM

So far, 2008 has been a difficult year for free daily newspapers, the year has seen an all-time low in circulation growth worldwide.

Growth has been just 5% in the furst eight months of the year. The 5% figure may seem substantial for a newspaper market, but for free dailies it is the lowest in its history so far.

The Free Daily Newspaper Newsletter writes that, "Considering the plans for the next months, a fast recovery is not expected."

Free dailies grew at their overall fastest rate between 1997 and 2000, when it was never below 50%. The year 2000 saw growth of almost 200%. 2003 registered growth of 17%, but after that it increased again to 45% in 2006. In 2007 growth dropped to 23%.

In 2008, the number of titles is four times as high as the number of countries with free dailies, indicating a high level of competition. In 2003 there were three titles per country, in 1999 it was two.

Source: Free Daily Newspapers Newsletter