Articles by Piet Bakker

With recent launches in the UK, the US, Spain, Rumania, the Czech Republic and later this month in Switzerland, Croatia and Austria, the total amount of free dailies distributed, is more than 25 million. In 2001 the 10 million circulation mark was reached, while in at the end of 2005 almost 23 million copies were distributed. In France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Canada, USA, Hong Kong and Korea free papers have a circulation of more than one million. Spain has 23 titles and the highest circulation (4.9 million). In Spain and Iceland the majority of the total newspaper market consists of free titles. Italy, the Czech Republic (both 31%), Denmark (30%), Switzerland and Portugal (both 29%) also have a substantial market share of free papers.

On May 15, a Croatian edition of Metro will be launched by Europapressholding (EPH), the biggest newspaper publisher in Croatia in which German publisher WAZ (Essen) has a 50% stake. The paper is a Metro franchise and wil have the familiar green Metro design. Metro will be pubished in four different editions (Zagreb, Istria, Dalmatia, and the northern area) with a circulation of 250,000.

In their presentation for the upcoming Capital Markets Day, Norwegian publisher Schibsted officially put the German launch of the free daily 20 Minuten on hold. The title is successful in Spain and France, while also the Swiss edition, owned by Tamedia since 2005, is performing well. The risk of a launch in Germany - Europe largest newspaper market, and the only major market without free dailies - is probably too high. The company, however, is evaluating a launch in "1-2 smaller countries" of the concept. Schibsted also made clear in the presentation that they prefer to operate with partners in joint ventures - this may also have been a reason for the not-launching in Germany.

Although market shares of free newspapers are growing in almost every newspaper market, the impact on paid circulation is yet unclear.