London streets set
for high-stakes media battle
By Kate
Holton Mon Sep 4,
9:14 AM ET
LONDON
(Reuters) - They may not know it, but
hundreds of workers lining up across central
London to hand out free newspapers on Monday
are on the front line of a high-stakes media
battlefield.
In the one
corner sits Rupert Murdoch's News
International (NYSE:NWS
-
news) and its long-awaited freesheet
"thelondonpaper"; in the other sits
Associated Newspapers and "London Lite."
The papers,
locked in a fight for the capital's young
commuters, are aiming for the 18- to
34-year-old market of urbanites who have
turned away from the country's traditional,
paid-for newspapers in favor of the
Internet.
Both papers
claim to be packed full of news,
entertainment, sport and listings for the
tired commuter who wants something light to
read on the way home from work.
"I don't
think you'll find the young home-going
commuter is going to want a huge analysis of
the Middle East conflict," a spokesman for
News International said.
"They want
something that suits their lifestyle."
"London
Lite," published by the Associated
division of Daily Mail & General Trust
(DMGOa.L), will be handed out in central
London from midday with an expected
circulation of 400,000 copies. It has gained
a slight advantage in the market after it
launched last week.
Its rival
will hit the streets for the first time at
1530 GMT on Monday, distributed in central
London and at the financial center of Canary
Wharf.
A unit of
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, News
International also owns the Sun tabloid and
the Times of London.
Analysts say
Britain's traditional newspapers will be
watching closely to monitor the free papers'
success but there will be one paper watching
more closely than others.
London's
paid-for Evening Standard, which is also
published by Associated, has already seen
its circulation drop and could suffer from
the new competition. It has recently
increased its price to 50 pence.
A spokesman
for News International told Reuters they
were confident of success despite the
difficult market, which has seen the
migration of readers and lucrative
classified advertising to the Internet in
recent years.
"This paper
will serve a market that hasn't been served
before," he said. "We believe that there is
advertising there to support a paper like
this and we've set no limits on the success.
"
The
introduction of the two free papers follows
the success of Associated's free morning
title, the Metro, and Steve Auckland, head
of Associated's Free Newspaper Division said
they were confident they could replicate
that success.
"As the
phenomenal success of Metro has proved --
and as the only company to have successfully
launched new newspapers in London --
Associated is uniquely placed to understand
this most exciting of newspaper markets," he
said.
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AP
Murdoch Joins London's Newspaper
Battle
Monday September 4, 6:26 pm ET
By Raphael Satter, Associated Press Writer
Murdoch Joins the Fray
As London's Free Papers Battle for Commuters' Attention
LONDON (AP) -- Global media tycoon
Rupert Murdoch on Monday launched thelondonpaper, diving into
London's already crowded market for free newspapers -- a relatively
new but increasingly lucrative source of media revenue.
The afternoon daily faces fierce
competition from the newly launched London Lite, published by
Associated Newspapers, a part of Daily Mail and General Trust PLC.
"It's gladiatorial combat," said Roy
Greenslade, a professor of journalism at City University in London,
"and consumers and advertisers are going be sitting in the
colosseum."
More than 400,000 copies of the
48-page paper were planned for the first run, said News
International, the main British subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp.
The publisher had previously
announced that it would begin distribution on Sept. 18, but the date
was pushed forward in a bid to compete with its Associated
Newspapers rival, launched last Wednesday.
Each newspaper hopes to establish
itself as the market leader before bidding begins for exclusive
afternoon use of the newspaper racks scattered throughout the London
subway system, which is used by more than 3 million commuters daily.
Those racks are currently occupied by
Metro, Associated Newspapers' free morning daily, which has been
extremely popular with Londoners since its launch in 1999, claiming
a readership of 1.8 million at a time when readership for
paid-circulation newspapers has been declining steadily nationwide.
James Simpson, a Transport for London
spokesman, said the racks would be emptied in the afternoon to make
way for whichever paper was awarded the contract for use during the
evening commute. That decision is due to be announced at the end of
the year.
In the meantime, two small armies of
distributors were busy thrusting the rival papers into the arms of
harried commuters in front of London's subway stations.
Greenslade called the tactic
"enormously expensive" but said that whoever could establish market
dominance before bidding closed would be in an extremely strong
position to capture the market.
But it remains to be seen how many
free papers the market can stand. Monday's launch brings the total
number of free papers vying for Londoner's attention to four,
including the business newspaper City A.M., launched a year ago.
Thelondonpaper also is competing
against The Evening Standard, a paid-circulation London paper
published by Associated Newspapers.
Sales of The Evening Standard,
London's lone paid circulation afternoon paper, have fallen 19
percent to 300,000 since last year, according to the Audit Bureau of
Circulation.
Greenslade said the battle for
readers could end up costing both Associated Newspapers and News
Corp. dearly.
"It could very well end up being a
Pyrrhic victory," he said.
"But for everyone else -- the
advertisers that are being wooed, the readers that are being deluged
with copy -- this is great."
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