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Metro increasing distribution by 250,000 circa 12,000 in the North West |
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Wednesday, 29 August 2007 |
Associated Newspapers is to increase the distribution of its free Metro morning paper by 250,000 copies from 1 October. 205,000 of the extra copies will be in London and the balance will be distributed roughly pro-rata across Metro’s eight regional editions.
The Manchester edition which has a circulation of 109,000 will increase by around 10,000 but Metro personnel were reluctant to be more specific. The Liverpool edition, which has a circulation of 25,500, will increase its run by approximately 2 to 3,000 copies a day.
The expansion in circulation will increase in stages from the middle of September onwards.
John Leitch, Metro’s director of partners told How-Do that: “Associated is simply making the existing product more available to a larger urban audience.”
The focus on London reflects both Metro’s largest audience and the area with the most competition.
The paper’s daily circulation will rise to 1.36million copies when the increases have all fed through. (This will result in the Metro becoming the UK’s fourth largest daily paper.) The combined Scottish ‘central belt’ edition is Metro’s biggest regional paper with a circulation of 118,000 copies a day.
In the North West, Associated works with Trinity Mirror and GMEN who respectively print and distribute the title in their areas and sell the local advertising.
Associated also runs its only out of London national agency sales team from Manchester which is managed by Sal Bhatti.
Steve Auckland, Metro’s managing director said: “After lengthy consultation with agencies and our regional publishing partners, it is now prudent to go ahead with this significant increase.
“Over the last eight years, Metro has constantly bucked trends in the daily newspaper market. It’s a well-known fact that fewer people under 40 are now reading ‘paid for’ national papers, with over a million fewer now than five years ago. Metro’s positioning as a newspaper without spin or political bias delivering news in palatable, bite-sized chunks has attracted a growing audience of young professionals and I am delighted that we have taken steps to meet this demand.”
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