Evening Standard May Drop Price To Boost Circulation

Reports over the weekend suggest that the London Evening Standard could drop its cover price and merge with sister publication Metro.

Publisher Associated Press has officially denied the rumours, but speculation has continued that the company could be looking at introducing a cover price of 10p and 20p for certain editions of the paper, which has seen a circulation drop of 50,000 in the past year.

Last week’s launch of free-sheet, Standard Lite, has fuelled speculation that Associated will eventually stop charging customers 40p for the Standard. It is hoped that the Lite edition could also prove beneficial to its paid-for parent title, which has seen its circulation suffer in recent months, losing 7.8% year on year in the same period (see Evening Standard Lite To Launch Next Week).

Last week, Veronica Wadley, editor of the Standard, insisted that the company was committed to the paid for paper. However, Peter Williams, finance director of parent company DMGT told The Business “By definition, we’re not ruling anything out. We have a product whose circulation is falling and we can’t sit back and do nothing.”

Associated Newspapers: 020 7938 6000 www.associatednewspapers.com

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