Standard slips as thelondonpaper goes 100k ahead of rival

by Daniel Farey-Jones Brand Republic 07-Mar-08, 12:40

LONDON - The Evening Standard's circulation fell 2.26% from January to 288,157 copies in February, while its London freesheet competitors held steady, according to the latest newspaper ABC figures.

The number of bulk copies given away by the 50p Associated paper was in line with recent months at 99,913.

The longer-term picture looks better for the Standard -- its six-month average circulation figure is up 5.48% year on year to 290,352. This compares favourably with the national paid-for daily newspapers, of which all but the Financial Times are down year on year.

The London freesheets had a very even month with hardly any change in circulation from January.

News International's afternoon title thelondonpaper was up 0.01% on January to 500,658 copies, while Associated's London Lite was up 0.38% to 400,332.

Year-on-year six-month average figures were available for both titles for the first time. Thelondonpaper recorded by far the better result, up 19.6% to 492,253, while London Lite managed a rise of 3% to 398,736.

Associated's morning title Metro was down 0.5% to 747,677, while its six-month average figure is up 31.7% year on year to 725,945.

City AM notched up a 13.3% rise from January to 95,760, although its January and December circulations were seasonally lower because it reined in activity as City workers took long breaks. It had reached as high as 100,576 in October.

City AM's six-month year-on-year figure is up 5.79% to 95,032.

Finally, Metro's national circulation is down 0.23% on January to 1,360,810 while its six-month average circulation is up 19.5% year on year to 1,334,385.

Comments

Simon Devitt - 07/03/2008

Whilst the Standard may be having difficulties it seems incredibly unbalanced to suggest that declines in sales from the Standard is negative in comparison with a publisher deciding to distribute the same number of copies as they did last month of a free paper. Will you be reporting the growth of The london paper or Lodon Lite next month if the publisher decides to print more copies feed them through distributors. More recognition that you are comparing apples and oranges please.