Standard Lite aims for women as it launches on Tuesday

by Daniel Farey-Jones,, Brand Republic 09-Dec-04, 13:45

LONDON - Associated Newspapers is to launch the free Evening Standard next Tuesday, under the name Standard Lite, with the initial distribution taking place in central London at lunchtime with a printrun of 50,000.

Media agency press directors attended a meeting at Associated Newspapers this morning at which they were presented with details of the launch.

The 48-page paper will be placed next to Evening Standard vendors in orange-coloured bins and will be available between 11.30am and 2.30pm.

Associated said that the distribution area roughly corresponded to the zone inside the Circle Line. It plans to extend the print run to 100,000 copies in January if the paper is successful.

The meeting was attended by Claudine Collins, press director at MediaCom, who said: "It is being aimed at a more female, younger readership than the Standard. There won't be any features and there will only be two pages of sport."

She said that the collective reaction was to applaud Associated for doing something to confront the Standard's falling circulation, but agencies were waiting for details on ad rates before fully digesting the move.

There were no dummy copies available to examine because the paper was still being finalised, but meeting attendees were promised they would be available on Monday.

The move sees Associated beat rival Richard Desmond to the punch. The Express Newspapers proprietor's plans are tied in the fate of the Office of Fair Trading inquiry into Metro's distrubution deal with London Underground.

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